Guy's We Finally Made It
by Midnitenic
Summary: Three Australians go to America and find themselves caught up in the sordid affairs of various WWF superstars- includes Shane McMahon, Edge and Jeff Hardy


Chapter One  
  
"Guys we finally made it. all those times we said we'd go to Wrestlemania I never believed it, yet, here we are!"  
  
"I feel the exact same way Allie", Lily Mason replied looking up from the sign she was painting for the show that evening. It read, '.right.', she planned to hold it up whenever things got boring or something didn't make sense. Allie lay back down on her bed in the hotel room and sighed, tonight she would finally be at a live wrestling event, something she'd always dreamed of since she started watching the WWF. Her other friend, Mandy Collingwood, was sitting at the desk in the small room reading the TV guide,  
  
"Hey did you know that they are playing reruns of Young Americans? How cool is that?"  
  
"Oh my god, I loved Young Americans, Will was the best"  
  
"Yeah Al, you would love it"  
  
Alexandra Donohugh just glared back at Lily and returned to her state of daydreaming. She was so tired from the excitement of it all that she managed to fall asleep and the next thing she realised was Mandy throwing a glass of cold water over her to wake her up,  
  
"Ugh couldn't you just have done it the normal way?" Allie scowled at Mandy and got up and went to the bathroom. She changed out of her clothes and glanced at her watch,  
  
"Guys we have to get going, or we'll be late" she cried as she dried her hair. Ten minutes later they were all out the door and waiting for a cab on the street.  
  
"Wrestlemania here we come!!!" cried Lily.  
  
  
  
Allie took another sip of her coke and sighed,  
  
"So that was Wrestlemania, it lived up to expectations but now it's over, it's all a bit sad"  
  
"Yeah but just think, we can come again, and we got to see Edge win the WWF champion belt, that's got to count for something" Mandy commented trying to cheer her up.  
  
"And we have a whole year in the US to see more wrestling, WWF and some of the Indy fed's" Lily said in her attempt to cheer Allie up. Allie went to take another sip when she saw Lily looking at her and making faces, she couldn't drink now, she'd spurt it out of her nose with laughter, and she tended to do that when people, especially Lily, made her laugh. She looked away and managed to finish her drink,  
  
"Hey you want another?" Lily asked,  
  
"Sure thing" Allie replied and Mandy nodded. Lily got up and walked over to the bar.  
  
"One coke, a lemon ruski and a non-alcoholic champagne please", she said with a smile. The bartender nodded and went of to get her order and Lily sat down on a barstool while she waited. She glanced back over at the others and smiled as she saw them laughing loudly, she was really glad they were her friends; they always had such good times together. As she turned back around to get her drinks she banged into the guy next to her causing him to drop his two beers,  
  
"Oh I am so sorry, let me buy..you.two.more", her voice tapered of as she realised who she was talking too, it was Jeff Hardy. She was so stunned she couldn't speak.  
  
"It's ok" he said, "I'm sure you didn't mean it, are you ok?" Lily just shut her mouth and nodded.  
  
"Good, I'm Jeff by the way" he said extending his hand towards her,  
  
"I know" She stammered, "I'm Lily." She shook his hand and could not believe this was happening to her. She glanced back over at the others and saw were more interested in analysing the program from that evening than seeing where their drinks were. Jeff saw her glancing at her friends and noticed the Wrestlemania program on their table,  
  
"So you saw the show huh?" Lily just nodded in reply; she wanted to say more but was still star struck.  
  
"Did you enjoy it? Which was your favourite match? It's always interesting to see what people respond too. You don't have to say mine" Jeff added with a grin. Lily finally found her voice and replied,  
  
"Well actually I did like your match best," she said tentatively. Jeff began to smile at her and started to say something when she interrupted,  
  
"That Chris Jericho is an excellent performer," she grinned and winked at him. Jeff shook his head and laughed.  
  
"I'd better be getting back to my friends; Mandy will want her non- alcohol"  
  
"My bro Matt likes non-alcoholic champagne, it's a bit strange for my liking"  
  
"Mine too."  
  
"I hope you don't find me presumptuous but can my brother and I join you?"  
  
"Ah ok, I'm sure the others won't mind."  
  
Jeff grabbed his two drinks which had arrived and walked away, presumably to find his brother. Lily walked back with her drinks to the table,  
  
"You guys are never going to guess who is about to join us for drinks!"  
  
"What Jeff Hardy?" Allie said jokingly,  
  
"The one and only," a voice said from behind. Allie looked behind her and almost fainted when she saw Jeff and Matt standing there holding their drinks. Mandy just took a gulp of her non-alcohol and told them to pull up some chairs, of course she made sure she was next to Matt and Lily was next to Jeff. The conversational flowed surprisingly well for people who had only just met. Jeff was flirting outrageously with Lily and she was, of course, reciprocating. Allie was starting to feel a tad left out since Matt and Mandy were also getting along like a house on fire.  
  
"You know we don't tend to hang out with fans" Jeff said.  
  
"Well I'm glad you decided to tonight" Lily replied  
  
"We were only stopping of here on our way to the post WM party because it's uncool to show up there before 12; would you guys like to come?" Matt asked, looking intently at Mandy. The girls glanced at each other and all appeared to be in agreement,  
  
"Definitely" Lily gushed.  
  
  
  
  
  
Chapter Two  
  
The house they drove up to was enormous. There was a long winding drive leading to a big white mansion. The road was decorated with fairy lights and there were both cars and people walking up the drive way. The procession was slow so the girls got to see which other people were there.  
  
"Oh look there's Michael Cole over there" Mandy exclaimed.  
  
"This is like on of THE wrestling parties of the year, everyone who's anyone will be there, it's almost as big as the McMahon Christmas party" Jeff commented.  
  
"Whose house is this?" Allie asked in awe as they approached the front steps.  
  
"The McMahon's," Matt replied nonchalantly.  
  
The girls were so shocked and stunned they were quiet. They had come to America to see Wrestle mania and now they were in a car with the Hardy brothers, driving up to the McMahon residence ready to party with the wrestling superstars.  
  
"Are you sure we'll be allowed in?" Mandy inquired tentatively.  
  
"Yeah of course. you're with us!" Jeff replied with a smile.  
  
"No seriously don't sweat, it'll be sweet" Matt added on the end.  
  
They pulled up to the steps at the front of the house and were greeted by a valet who opened the door for them. They exited the car and stood in awe of the house for a few seconds until Jeff cried,  
  
"Let's go party!!!"  
  
They walked inside the house and stared at all the people, famous wrestlers and their partners, the bookers, the crew and many other random people. They all walked over to the bar and ordered the drinks of their choice. They stood around discussing various topics as people came and left their group saying hello and congratulating the Hardy's on excellent matches that evening. Just as they were discussing what life in the Australian army band was like for Lily and Allie, Adam Copeland came up and high fived Jeff.  
  
"Great match mate" Jeff said.  
  
"Ditto. you totally reeked of awesomeness. And who are these lovely ladies in your company" he inquired looking specifically at Mandy, who blushed and started to giggle, as per usual. They were all introduced and he immediately began a conversation with Mandy and they were completely caught up with each other. Matt kept glaring at Adam and eventually stalked of to go to the bathroom. Allie was starting to feel even more out of place now that it was Adam and Mandy talking intently and Jeff and Lily flirting wildly. She excused herself and began to search for the bathroom. She climbed the massive staircase and followed the hall round, just as she was turning a corner she ran smack bang into Shane McMahon. He stared at her for a second and then apologized.  
  
"Sorry" he muttered and kept walking. Allie just stood there in shock for a few seconds. She'd waited all her life to meet Shane O Mac and when she bumped into him, in his own house no less, he had just said sorry and walked off. That was not how the daydream had gone. She shook her head and continued down the hallway when she heard a voice,  
  
"Excuse me you haven't seen my husband anywhere have you?"  
  
"I don't know who your husband is" Allie said carefully. She knew full well this was Marissa McMahon, Shane's wife, but for some reason did not want to admit it.  
  
"Oh, Shane McMahon"  
  
"Ummm, he just walked down there" she said pointing vaguely in the direction down the stairs.  
  
"Thanks sweetie. I'm Marissa by the way," she shakily held out her hand.  
  
"Allie" she said as she shook Marissa's hand. She looked at Marissa and saw that she looked really upset but was trying to hide it.  
  
"Are you ok?" she asked quietly. Marissa just bit her lip, shook her head and began to cry. Allie didn't know what to do so she just stood there watching her cry.  
  
"Do you want to talk about it?" Marissa nodded and wiped her eyes.  
  
"Do you want me to get someone else?" Marissa shook her head and opened a door next to them which led into a study. Allie followed her in and sat down next to her on the couch.  
  
"He just never has time for me anymore. All he ever does is work. I do everything for him and he does nothing in return. He's so ungrateful and I feel so disconnected from him," Allie didn't know what to say. She reached out and patted Marissa on her shoulder.  
  
"I just want him to love me as much as his work." Allie was in complete shock. Here was the wife Shane McMahon, whom she had all over her bedroom wall, crying on her shoulder about how her husband didn't love her enough. It was all very surreal.  
  
"I honestly don't know what to say, except, have you told him this?" Allie said softly. Marissa sniffed,  
  
"Every time I try he finds some excuse to leave, like tonight, I started telling him and he said he had to go meet and greet people with Vince."  
  
"Look I can't tell you what to do, but I think you really need to tell him and make him listen"  
  
"You're right and I've known that all along, I just wish I didn't have to make him. Thank you Allie, for letting me put all this onto you after only meeting you for five minutes or less"  
  
"That's ok"  
  
"How about we go downstairs and get a stiff drink?" She said wiping her eyes with a tissue.  
  
"Sure, but first I need to go to the toilet" Allie stood up and Marissa pointed her in the direction of the toilet.  
  
"I'll meet you by the bar" Marissa called after her. Allie went to the toilet and then walked back down the hallway when she once again came face to face with Shane McMahon.  
  
"What did my wife say to you?" he asked her softly. Allie was beyond being in shock. She'd stepped into some weird McMahon family soap opera and was now involved.  
  
"Ummm, errr, ahhh, I think it's up to her to tell you" she stammered. Shane grimaced and began to turn around when he stopped,  
  
"Thank you" he said.  
  
"Why?" Allie was completely confused now.  
  
"For looking after her", and with that he turned and walked away. I really need that drink now, thought Allie.  
  
As Allie arrived downstairs she noticed little had changed since she had left. Adam and Mandy were pashing on the couch, at this sight she just grinned and rolled her eyes as that was so Mandy. Jeff and Lily were standing around talking to Christian and Matt, although Matt kept staring over at Mandy looking upset. Jeff had his arm around Lily and they were looking awfully buddy, buddy, noted Allie. She was about to go over and join them when she heard a voice calling her,  
  
"Allie over here. Yoo hoo!" It was Marissa standing at the bar with Shane. Allie really didn't want to get involved anymore but she didn't want to be rude, after all this was the McMahon's house. She walked over and smiled politely,  
  
"Hi"  
  
"Oh Shane this is Allie," Marissa said introducing her husband. Shane smiled weakly and shook her hand.  
  
"So Allie how did you come to be here this evening?" Marissa asked, she seemed to have cheered up.  
  
"My friends and I came with the Hardy's."  
  
"That's a wonderful accent you have, where are you from?" Marissa inquired.  
  
"Sydney, Australia."  
  
"Oh that's great; we went to Sydney for the Olympics back in 2000. It was such a nice place. Whatever possessed you to leave?"  
  
"Oh I haven't left; I'm on a working holiday with my friends. Though we only got here a couple of days ago."  
  
"How do you like it so far?"  
  
"Oh it's great" Shane had stood there quietly through the whole conversation, barely able to pretend to be interested.  
  
"Have you found jobs yet?"  
  
"We haven't started looking," She replied.  
  
"Honey couldn't we give them some jobs? I mean I'm sure they can use a computer and you were saying how difficult it is to find good employees." She looked rather uncomfortable as he contemplated it, but in the end he nodded.  
  
"We do have a few openings" he replied, "but you'd have to be willing to hang around for awhile." Allie was in complete shock.  
  
"Yeah, that'd be wonderful, no pressure or anything"  
  
"Oh it's fine. I'd rather have people I can be friends with working with my husband" Marissa said looking poking Shane affectionately. She obviously had a short memory, Allie mused to herself. At that point Shane excused himself to talk to his father.  
  
"I can tell we are going to have so much fun together" She said excitedly, while hugging Allie.  
  
Chapter Three  
  
1 month later  
  
"So what are we all doing this evening?" Lily asked joyfully.  
  
"Adam is taking me out for dinner"  
  
"As per usual!" Lily quipped causing Mandy to stick her tongue out at her, while attempting to brush her long blonde hair.  
  
"What about you Al?"  
  
"Marissa invited me over for dinner. again! I mean I like being her friend and everything but she's awfully full on sometimes"  
  
"Who would have thought? Allie Donohugh and Shane McMahon's wife, best buddies" This time it was Allie who stuck her tongue out at Lily.  
  
"Well Jeff's taking me out clubbing"  
  
"Has he made a move on you yet?" Mandy asked exasperatedly.  
  
"Nothing since the Wrestle mania party" Lily replied sounding disappointed, "But then we go to clubs and it's not like he picks up other girls, oh I don't know! It's all too confusing!"  
  
"Well as I am so fond of saying, it'll all work itself out!" Allie said in her matter of fact type voice. The others both stuck their tongues out at her and she replied by sticking her own out back at them.  
  
Mandy and Adam were sitting at a table in a fairly swish restaurant enjoying each others company when Adam suddenly declared he had something to ask her,  
  
"Mandy there's something I have to say," She nodded in reply, "I think about you all the time and ever since I met you I have felt my life is complete. Even though I have only known you a month I feel as though I know you almost as well as myself. I love the way you giggle at everything, how you love non-alcoholic champers more than anything else, your hair, your unassuming way of making me feel better about myself, in short Mandy, I love you. Will you marry me?" Adam produced a ring and laid it on the table in front of Mandy.  
  
"Oh my god, I don't know what to say"  
  
"Say yes"  
  
  
  
Allie walked up to the door that had become so familiar to her in the past couple of weeks. She was about to ring the doorbell when the door burst open.  
  
"Oh Al, it's you, good, I have to go and help Steve deal with a crisis but I should be back soon. Shane's inside he'll look after you. I'm really sorry but Steve sounded kinda desperate on the phone. Bye!" Marissa had said all this at super speed and was now hoping into her car and driving down the street. Allie shrugged and walked inside. She heard the television and headed for the lounge room, though they called it the den. As she walked in Shane looked up from his position on the couch. He was always civil but never anything more, he always appeared as kind of emotionless.  
  
"Wassup?" He muttered to her.  
  
"Nothing much, how about you?" She said attempting to make a decent conversation.  
  
"Hmm you know" He replied and went back to the wrestling he was watching. It was a replay of his match on the past Monday's RAW.  
  
"How can you watch yourself get hurt like that? How can you even stand getting hurt like that?" Allie asked incredulously as the Shane on the television got pummelled with a garbage can.  
  
"You get used to it, there are ways which you can kind of protect yourself" He said. Allie nodded in reply. She walked across and sat down in the spot next to him on the couch. He shuffled over to give her more room or to get as far away as possible from her, she wasn't sure which.  
  
"Shane what do you have against me?" She asked suddenly.  
  
"Pardon?"  
  
"Well you never seem to want to have a conversation with me, let alone give me the time of day. It's like you only tolerate me because I'm friends with Marissa. I'm not that horrible."  
  
"I know you're not horrible" he said in reply.  
  
"Then what? I mean I just don't like people hating me."  
  
"I don't hate you" Allie was completely confused and just turned around and began to watch the television. They sat there in silence for another fifteen minutes until Shane said,  
  
"I'm attracted to you." He said quickly.  
  
"What?" Allie asked in disbelief.  
  
"Ever since I saw you at the party I haven't been able to stop thinking about you. You became friends with Marissa and I see you at work almost everyday and if I manage to avoid you at work you are always over here. I see your compassion in everything you do. You always help people, even if it's to your detriment, the way you bite your lip when you are nervous, that true smile that so few people see. I don't want to have these feelings for you because my marriage is in a bad enough shape as it is, but you'd know all about that. It's just I." His voice petered of and he leaned in close to her, the smell of his aftershave was intoxicating, he whispered softly, almost inaudibly,  
  
"I think I want you Allie Donohugh" He then leaned in and kissed her. After a few seconds of shock, Allie began to kiss him back until they were in a passionate embrace, when she realised what she was doing was wrong. Shane began to push her down on the couch when she struggled and freed herself from his grip.  
  
"I can't do this, you can't do this, we can't do this, you are married, your wife is a friend of mine, you're married. Oh my god, oh.. my. god." Allie jumped up off of the couch and stood there staring at him with her hand over her mouth. She was shocked at his actions, but what shocked and scared her more was that she found her self pleased that it had happened. She was attracted to him too! She walked out into the kitchen and sat down on a chair around the table. Shane followed her out there and pulled up a chair next to hers. She sighed and began to cry. She sniffed and tried to wipe the tears away but they just kept coming,  
  
"Why did you have to do this? My life was going so well except now my friend's husband has feelings for me and I reciprocate them. How would Marissa feel? She already thinks your having an affair and I kept telling her you wouldn't and now. now. oh god." Shane just sat there quietly, not saying or doing anything. He felt guilty, he loved his wife, just not as much as he used too. He wanted to reach out and give Allie a hug but he knew that would be the worst thing to do. Allie looked up at him and saw the concern in his face. She saw his eyes starting to crumple at the sides. She saw pure emotion being played out across his face. A side of Shane she had never, in all her years of dreaming about him, imagined. She looked into his eyes and he returned her look, both faces mirroring the passion and emotion they saw in the other. They leaned closer and kissed once more, this time neither of them wanted nor could bring themselves to stop.  
  
Jeff was sitting at a bar with Lily at his side. He had to constantly restrain himself from taking her in his arms and sweeping her away, but he couldn't hurt her. He couldn't ever tell her his secret and secrets were the kind of things that broke relationships up. He knew he had to tell someone, it had been eating him slowly since that fateful day. He desperately wanted to tell her but knew that if he did she would never look at him again, and he just couldn't lie to her. He looked at her laughing with the bar tender and knew he could never do anything to destroy her smile, he cared for her too much, he had to control his emotions or his world would collapse. There were so many moments he had come close to kissing her, to telling her, to leaving and never seeing her again. Never seeing her again, that was a horrible thought. He loved her company and even though it would be a better idea to stop calling her and returning her calls, he couldn't do that, he needed her too much. It stuck him as strange that she had no idea how much she meant to him and it stuck him as sad that she would never know, not while it was. well not for a long time. He watched as she laughed at Jericho's ridiculous jokes and accepted his offer to dance. He wished he could dance with her, but it hurt too much. He smiled at them as they walked over to the dance floor, but inside he was hurting.  
  
Chapter Four  
  
Shane and Allie were kissing passionately in the kitchen when Allie's cell phone rang.  
  
"Ignore it," muttered Shane. He went back to kissing her, but she pulled away,  
  
"It might be important. Hello Allie speaking"  
  
"Al, it's Mandy, I have something to tell you."  
  
"Ummm Mandy I'm kinda busy, is it important?"  
  
"Adam just asked me to marry him."  
  
"He what?" screeched Allie, "Oh wow, what did you say?"  
  
"Yes"  
  
"Oh wow, congrats Mandy. I'm speechless for once. You must be so pleased, have you told Lily?"  
  
"Not yet, I better go and call her, I just had to tell you. I'm so happy"  
  
"I'm so happy for you, congrats again sweetie, love you, bye"  
  
Shane looked at Allie inquiringly as she placed her phone in the back pocket of her jeans.  
  
"That was Mandy, she and Adam are getting married." Allie said in a dull monotone. It wasn't that she unhappy for her friend but the thought of marriage sent pangs of guilt to her stomache.  
  
"Tell them congratulations, I hope they know what they are getting themselves into." Allie looked at Shane as he said those last words. His pain was evident. She put her hand to his cheek and moved in to kiss him once more hen they heard the front door open. Allie snapped back and jumped up of her chair. Shane leant back in his chair, ran his hands through his hair and sighed.  
  
"Yoo Hoo!" called Marissa as she walked into the kitchen, "So this is where you both are." She walked over and kissed Shane on his cheek. Allie watched and found herself seething with jealousy. She had to leave.  
  
"I'm so sorry Marissa but I just got an urgent call from Mandy and I have to go help her, something about Adam" She rushed and turned and walked out of the room.  
  
"Oh I hope Mandy's ok" Marissa sympathised to Shane, "Ah well at least we get the night to ourselves" She said seductively, while winking at him.  
  
"I don't actually feel too good. I think I might just go to bed," with that Shane stood up and left the room. Marissa stood there and watched as he walked out.  
  
Chris and Lily were dancing like fiends on the dance floor of the Bluebottle club, one of the hippest most up and coming places. Lily glanced up from her feet for a second to notice Jeff talking with a blonde girl, they seemed pretty intimate, and she kept touching his arm.  
  
"Hey Chris, who's the girl with Jeff?"  
  
"Oh that's Laurie, you know Laurie?"  
  
"No, who's Laurie?"  
  
"You mean he hasn't told you?"  
  
"Told me what?"  
  
"Oh nothing, don't worry." Lily stared back and Jeff and this 'Laurie' person as she sat down and began to rub his knee, maybe they were going out or something, but wouldn't he have told her? It was all very strange. She decided to forget about it and drown her sorrows,  
  
"Let's get another drink" she said and walked over to a different part of the bar to where Jeff was sitting. She ordered drink after drink after drink, until she could barely stand, she didn't even notice her phone ringing. By this time the club was almost empty. Chris gently grabbed her arm and pulled her away,  
  
"Come on let's go and get you to bed."  
  
"I don't want to go to bed" cried Lily. Jeff looked up from his deep conversation with Laurie and saw Lily and Chris leaving together, noting that Chris had his arm around Lily.  
  
"Jeff are you listening? We have to do something about it"  
  
"About what?"  
  
"Jeff have you even listened to a word I've said?" He nodded and grudgingly turned his attention back to Laurie.  
  
"Lily I need you to tell me your room number"  
  
"What room?" Lily asked sleepily.  
  
"Your apartment, you know, where you live?" At that point Allie came running up the stairs of the building, looking very upset.  
  
"Allie, can you help me with Lily?" Chris asked.  
  
"Yeah" Allie answered distractedly but then kept walking up the stairs. Chris shrugged and followed, holding Lily up as they went. When they go to their apartment, Allie opened the door and then went straight to her bedroom, leaving Chris to put Lily to bed himself. He walked inside with her and saw a door with (luckily) a sign on it saying, 'Lily lives here, enter if you dare'. He walked her into her room and laid her onto her bed. He pulled the covers over her and kissed her forehead. She opened her eyes and looked at him. Then he leaned in and kissed her. It was a sudden spur of the moment impulse that he did not regret. She kissed back and they entwined themselves in each others arms.  
  
Jeff walked up the stairs of Lily's apartment building. He had to tell her. The sight of her leaving with Chris had made him feel physically ill. If only he hadn't had to talk to Laurie, then he could have helped her. He knocked on the door, but there was no reply. He knocked again and waited. Once again there was no answer. He decided she must be asleep. He began to walk down the stairs when he ran into Mandy.  
  
"Hiya Jeffy Boy" She said cheerfully. She and Adam had had the most wonderful evening.  
  
"Hey Mandy"  
  
"Did you and Lily just get home?" she asked.  
  
"No I came over to see her but there is no answer"  
  
"Oh come with me, sometimes she listens to her music and can't hear anything. Plus have I got some news for you!"  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"Adam and I are getting married"  
  
"That's great" Jeff said and gave her a hug. He genuinely liked Mandy, she was such a nice girl, he could see why Lily was friends with her. Mandy opened the door and pointed to Lily's door,  
  
"That's her room, just knock" Jeff walked over to her bedroom and knocked on the door. Once again there was no reply.  
  
"She might actually be asleep, though that seems very out of character, here let me have a look" Mandy went over and opened the door. She and Jeff looked in and saw Lily and Chris Jericho making out on the bed. Mandy gasped and Jeff closed the door. He looked very shell-shocked. Mandy didn't know what to do, she knew Lily had feelings for Jeff and by the look on Jeff's face he had them for her as well. What was going on? Jeff turned and walked out of the apartment with tears trickling down his face.  
  
Chapter Five  
  
Lily opened her eyes and quickly shut them again as the light hurt her pounding head. She groaned, turned over and hit someone in the face. She froze, what had she done? She couldn't remember anything from the night before. She slowly opened her eyes again and saw Chris Jericho asleep next to her. Lily began to feel a ball of dread form in her stomach. The last thing she remembered was seeing Jeff talking with some girl named Laurie. She slowly climbed out of bed trying not to disturb Chris and went to find some Panadol. She walked into the lounge room and saw Allie sitting quietly on the couch watching television. She looked up and nodded at Lily,  
  
"Gee you look like shit"  
  
"Thanks" Lily replied. She wandered into the kitchen and found tablets, took them and went and sat next to Allie on the couch.  
  
"Big night last night?" Allie inquired.  
  
"Bigger than I thought, not that I can remember much."  
  
"Did you hear about Mandy?"  
  
"What about her?"  
  
"She and Adam are engaged"  
  
"That's great" Lily replied. She was happy for her friend, although she thought it was a bit too soon.  
  
"So what'd you and Jeffy boy do last night?" Allie asked.  
  
"Well." Lily began as her bedroom door opened and Chris emerged. Allie raised an eyebrow and looked at Lily inquiringly.  
  
"Ah morning girls" Chris said awkwardly, "I have to go and get ready for the show tonight, bye" With that he walked out the door.  
  
"Please Explain" Allie said, doing her best Pauline Hanson impersonation. Lily told her all that she could remember and Allie listened thoughtfully.  
  
"Are you still going backstage to help out at the show tonight? Or will you call in sick?"  
  
"I better go, I don't know what to do, and it's all very stressful"  
  
"I can imagine" Allie replied softly.  
  
There was a buzz backstage before the show, just like there was before every show. The girls had arrived early to help them set up. Mandy and Adam were glued to each others sides and informing everyone of their engagement. Everyone was happy for them as they were such a good couple. The girls sat down in one of the 'hang out' rooms (the rooms where the stars waited after warm up but before matches to watch the show). Lily had managed to avoid both Chris and Jeff so far that evening and Allie had managed to avoid both Shane and Marissa. They were laughing at Scotty 2 Hotty doing the worm on screen when Jeff walked in. He took one look at Lily and walked out again. This confused her greatly as she wondered if he knew and if he did, was it a sign that he cared for her? She stood up and followed him out of the room.  
  
"Jeff wait" He stoped and turned to look at her. The look in his eyes was one of hurt and disgust. He just stood there and stared at her.  
  
"What's wrong Jeff? What did I do to you?"  
  
"You slept with Jericho" Lily looked at him strangely,  
  
"But that has nothing to do with you and me; we are just friends, why are you so cut up about it? And how did you find out anyway? And if you're going to be jealous, I can be too, who's Laurie?" At the mention of Laurie's name, Jeff visibly paled. He went to say something but shut his mouth and walked off.  
  
"Jeff! JEFF!" Lily called after him but he didn't respond, he just kept walking. As he had his back to her she couldn't see the pain showing on his face. He wanted it all to be a dream, something that wasn't happening, a nightmare he could wake up from.  
  
Allie was walking out of the bathroom when Shane confronted her.  
  
"We have to talk" he said.  
  
"I know"  
  
"But we can't talk here"  
  
"I know"  
  
"Do you know of anywhere we can go?"  
  
"My place, the others will be busy here until the show finishes and they generally go out afterwards anyway." Shane nodded,  
  
"We can take my car"  
  
The drive to Allie's house was silent, as was the walk up to the apartment. She unlocked the door and they walked inside.  
  
"Would you like a drink?" She asked as Shane looked around the quaint apartment. He shook his head and went and sat on the sofa. She went and sat down next to him.  
  
"I don't know what to do" he said simply.  
  
"Neither do I" Allie replied softly.  
  
"My marriage to Marissa was degenerating long before you arrived on the scene"  
  
"Were there others? Have you cheated on her before?"  
  
"No, I haven't, I'd never even thought about it until." His voice trailed of.  
  
"I can't do this to Marissa. She confides in me, she trusts me. I can't betray her trust."  
  
"You already have" Allie looked at him with tears in her eyes. She was feeling guilt beyond anything she had ever felt before. She never realised emotions could be so powerful.  
  
"We have to tell her, it's the only answer" She looked at her with a shocked look on his face.  
  
"I can' tell her and I can't just forget about you."  
  
"You're willing to throw away ten years of marriage on a person you met only a month ago? Who you've never even had a proper conversation with?" Shane did nothing; he just sat there, emotionless.  
  
"I do care for her," he said finally. He stood up and walked towards the door; he turned back and looked at Allie. She looked back and him and stood up and walked over.  
  
"I know" she whispered. Then they kissed once more. It was a kiss full of passion and taboo. They moved over to the couch and fell down onto it. They were so involved in each other that they did not even hear the door open. They didn't hear the voices until it was too late,  
  
"Allie what the hell are you doing?" Mandy cried. They both stopped and looked up guiltily. Standing in the room were Lily, Mandy and Adam.  
  
Chapter Six  
  
Shane jumped up and looked around the room,  
  
"I have to go" he said quickly and left. The others just stood there staring at Allie as she sat guiltily on the couch.  
  
"I think I might go too" Adam said tactfully, gave Mandy a quick kiss and left.  
  
"Allie what on earth possessed you? He's married"  
  
"Don't you think I know that Lily? I'm friends with his wife" She was on the verge of tears.  
  
"Why?" Mandy asked softly, "Then why?"  
  
"It just happened"  
  
"How long has this been going on for?" Lily asked.  
  
"Since yesterday, Marissa had to go out and I asked him why he didn't like me and he said he more than liked me and then he kissed me and then we said we had to sort it out and we came here to do it and then it just happened again."  
  
"You have to tell Marissa and stop it"  
  
"I know, but she loves him so much"  
  
"Why didn't you think of that in the first place?" Mandy asked coldly.  
  
"I don't know ok?" Allie yelled, "Sorry I'm not perfect, sorry I didn't fall for a guy who was available, who loved me so much he wanted to marry me."  
  
"Al, I'm sorry."  
  
"I don't care" Allie stood up, grabbed her coat and walked out of the apartment.  
  
"Should we go after her?" Lily asked.  
  
"No I don't think that would help," mused Mandy. They both sat there in shock. Mandy noticed the light on the answering machine beeping; she got up and pressed play. What she heard freaked and scared her so much.  
  
"Milly, Molly, Mandy,  
  
Everything's fine and Dandy,  
  
Your marriage to the mane whose hair the colour of sandy,  
  
Everything's as sweet as Candy,  
  
Not for long"  
  
Lily and Mandy looked at each other.  
  
"Oh my god, what's that supposed to mean?" Mandy asked  
  
"I don't know" Lily replied.  
  
"I'm calling Adam" She grabbed the phone and rang Adam on his cell phone; he said he would come back over straight away. The voice on the answering machine had been digitally produced, they deduced as it didn't sound human. Adam kept asking Mandy if anyone disliked her this much and she couldn't think of anyone.  
  
"Honey will you stay here tonight?" Mandy asked.  
  
"Of course!" Adam replied. Mandy went over to the cupboard and produced the sheets for the sofa bed. Lily said goodnight and left the other two to make the bed. Once it was made Mandy sat down on the freshly made bed and began to cry, it was all too much. Adam put his arms around her and hugged her. They fell asleep like that; Mandy's tear's staining the pillow as they slept soundly.  
  
Allie knocked loudly on Shane's front door and waited for an answer. Marissa opened the door, "Oh honey what's wrong?" Marissa asked Allie.  
  
"Oh 'Rissa there's something I have to tell you."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I. It's just that we. I need to."  
  
"Finish your sentences sweetie" As Allie was gathering up the courage to tell Marissa, Shane burst through the door.  
  
"Sorry I'm late the traffic was. oh hi Allie" Allie just looked at him and he realised what she was about to do. The look of fear he gave made her chicken out once more.  
  
"I had an argument with the girl's"  
  
"Oh you poor dear, you can stay in the guest room here tonight." Allie gave her a grateful smile as Shane gave Allie one behind Marissa's back.  
  
"I really need to get back to bed as I have to be up early, Shane can you sort Allie out? Thank you dear." She kissed Shane, patted Allie on the back and went of to her bedroom. Shane led Allie to the guestroom and they both sat down on the bed. Shane began to kiss Allie and she, once again, reciprocated for awhile until the guilt got to her,  
  
"Not here" she muttered.  
  
"Not Anywhere" Marissa's voice said from the door.  
  
Chapter Seven  
  
Marissa stood at the door with tears in her eyes as she looked at the guilty faces of the two people closest to her. They had betrayed her in the worst way possible, they had abused her love. She wanted one of them to stand up and tell her it was all a joke, all a sick joke, but they didn't. They just sat there silently.  
  
"How could you?" she said uttering those clichéd words with a sick feeling in her stomach. Shane finally found his voice,  
  
"Marissa, I think we." She broke him off,  
  
"You think we what Shane? We What? Let me inform you of something you may have failed to notice. There is no we and never again will there be a we. How long has this been happening? Allie after all those times I sat there crying to you about the state of my marriage and all the time you were the cause of those problems."  
  
"Marissa we had problems before she came along" Shane yelled at her. Marissa screeched in reply,  
  
"How dare you say that Shane! I loved you, I tried to resurrect our relationship and you go and throw it all away with this... this. this. floozy"  
  
"Allie is not a 'floozy' as you say. I was the one who initiated it." Marissa's world was crumpling around her. First she found her best friend with her husband and now her husband was claiming all responsibility. Tears were streaming down her face and the one person in the world who could comfort her was the one causing her the pain.  
  
"Was I not good enough for you? Is that it? Was I getting boring? Was I not pretty enough for you?" The malice in her voice was growing. Allie sat there silently with a solemn look on her face.  
  
"Aren't you going to tell me it'll be ok? Allie? Because that's what you always do when I have relationship problems. How could you say that if you knew it wasn't because you were fucking my husband?" Marissa screamed the last words. Allie saw red.  
  
"I was not, as you say, 'fucking your husband'. Nothing happened until yesterday and there were problems in your relationship before I met you. I came here tonight to try and tell you but I was too much of a coward and for that I am sorry, but I am not. I repeat NOT a floozy and nor am I sleeping with Shane, nor is this entirely my fault." Allie snarled those words and stood up,  
  
"I think that's all I need to say." With that she walked out of the room, down the stairs and out the door.  
  
Allie arrived back at her apartment and was apprehensive as she walked in the door. She noted Mandy and Adam asleep on the sofa bed and smiled, they were so lucky. She walked into her bedroom and collapsed onto her bed and cried. She cried until she fell asleep from the anguish caused by the events that evening. She felt she had no friends left. She always believed that love was powerful, but in a good way. She had never experienced negative emotional fallout this big. She felt drained. She had conflicting emotions, while she knew she shouldn't have done it, she felt she truly had feelings for Shane and he her. Shouldn't they be allowed to be happy? But then there was poor Marissa. Allie knew how much she loved Shane and how hard she tried to please him. However, what Marisa was saying had pissed her off no end and made her feel worthless. It was a hopeless situation. She resolved that she would not get romantically involved with Shane while he was married to Marissa; she owed it to them to give them a chance to work it. Ten years of marriage was nothing to laugh at.  
  
Early the next morning there was a knock at the door. Mandy stirred and opened her eyes. She didn't want to move from the comfort of Adam's warm embrace. The knocking continued and got louder and more aggressive. This began to scare Mandy, maybe it was the weird freak from her answering machine.  
  
"Adam" She whispered. He groaned in response.  
  
"Adam" She said, a bit louder this time. He jumped,  
  
"What?"  
  
"There's someone at the door and they're knocking really aggressively"  
  
"Let me check it out" He said bravely. Mandy flashed him a winning smile. He walked over to the door and opened it,  
  
"Oh hey mate."  
  
"Who is it?" Mandy asked. She walked over to the door and saw Shane standing there.  
  
"Oh it's you; I suppose you can come in. I don't even know if Allie is here." Shane walked in quietly.  
  
"Her bedroom's over there." Mandy said coldly.  
  
"It's not what you think" Shane said simply and headed for Allie's room. He knocked quietly and there was no reply so he opened the door and saw her lying on her bed. He walked in, shut the door behind him and sat down on her bed. He just waited there, watching her until she woke up. She began to stir and opened her eyes to see Shane sitting there with his face in his hands.  
  
"Shane" She said surprised.  
  
"She threw me out"  
  
"I'm not surprised" Allie said warily. Shane gave her a weak smile.  
  
"I mean I had been wanting out for awhile. Guess I got my get out of jail free card."  
  
"You're not really out free" Allie replied. Shane smiled woefully and put his hand on her knee. Allie looked pointedly down at it.  
  
"You can stay here for tonight if you need to but I can't see you." Shane was shocked. He didn't know what to say.  
  
"It'd be wrong. You and Marissa deserve a chance to patch things up."  
  
"But that's not going to happen"  
  
"Well then she deserves not to have to deal with 'us' until after your divorce. Maybe then? Who knows?"  
  
"I'm going to go stay with my parent's. I'll see you at work" He said coldly and walked out. Mandy and Adam watched him leave as abruptly as he had arrived. Mandy jumped up and ran into Allie to see if she was ok. Once again she was weeping heavily.  
  
  
  
Chapter Eight  
  
Gradually situations calmed and cooled. Jeff and Lily managed to constantly avoid each other. Lily and Chris had discussed what had happened that night and were still good buddies. Shane and Allie were civil to each other and his divorce was going through. Marissa had moved back to Massachusetts to live with her parents. Mandy had had no more weird phone messages left on her machine and only remembered the other one in passing. Adam and Mandy's wedding was being organised and prepared and was right on track for the big day in one week.  
  
"So you guys really like your dresses?" Mandy asked, sounding concerned. Lily and Allie nodded as they twirled around in their skirts and bodice's.  
  
"Lily there's something I have to tell you" Mandy said carefully.  
  
"What?" Lily asked suspiciously.  
  
"Adam finally decided who he wanted as his groomsmen. It took him long enough."  
  
"Along with Christian he chose Jeff" Lily stared at her.  
  
"Oh" Lily said softly. She still had strong feelings for Jeff but he never talked to her and she never talked to him. It was a difficult situation which neither of them had an answer too.  
  
"I can make Allie be his partner though"  
  
"I think that'd be a good idea" Lily murmured.  
  
"Thank God I don't get stuck with Christian" Allie said gratefully, "He always asks me about Shane and I'm always like, there's nothing going on! And he goes, 'sure sure'." Mandy and Lily looked knowingly at each other.  
  
"What?" asked Allie indignantly.  
  
"We know you still have feelings for Shane"  
  
"If I still had feelings for Shane, how come my date for the wedding is Scotty?" Lily and Mandy just gave each other another look.  
  
"Oh you two" Allie said exasperatedly and rolling her eyes.  
  
"Anyway more important than Allie's repressed feelings is, what is Adam doing for his bucks' night?" Lily asked  
  
"I don't know and it's a bit worrisome because he won't tell me anything about it."  
  
"I'm sure Adam wouldn't do anything stupid." Allie said. Mandy just nodded sceptically.  
  
Chapter Nine  
  
The girls went into work on morning and were a bit tired as they had spent all night talking about the wedding, that's all anyone seemed to talk about anymore. Mandy's parents and friends were flying over from Australia. Lily and Allie were also excited as they were going to see some old friends they had only talked to via email since their arrival in the US. The girls went there separate ways into the various departments where they worked. Mandy was a secretary for one of the executive's. Lily worked as a secretary in the creative department and Allie had worked as a secretary in the publicities department but had been transferred that day to the department of New Media, meaning, to Allie's dismay, she would be working in close proximity to Shane. Little did she realise she was to be working as Shane's personal secretary and it was his doing that she was. He felt empty without seeing her, like he was lacking something. Even if they couldn't be together, he felt if they worked near each other he may feel some relief. Allie walked onto the fifth floor feeling very apprehensive. She walked over to the main desk and the secretary asked her who she was.  
  
"Alexandra Donohugh, I'm meant to start work here today"  
  
"Oh Alexandra. Hi I'm Becca, the floor secretary. You've been assigned to work as a secretary for Mr McMahon."  
  
"Vince works here?"  
  
"Oh no silly, Shane McMahon, his son" Allie's mouth dropped open and she stood there in shock.  
  
"Are you ok?" Allie nodded.  
  
"Well your desk is just through there. Go through and I'll phone Mr McMahon and tell him you're here." She smiled at Allie and picked up the phone. Allie walked numbly through to her new desk. Sure she had been civil to Shane but working with him everyday that was going to be tough. As she arrived at her new desk the door opened and out stepped Shane.  
  
"Miss Donohugh" He said formally.  
  
"Mr McMahon" She replied uncomfortably.  
  
"Step into my office" He walked back in and she followed him into his office. He sat down behind his desk and motioned for her to take a seat in the chair opposite.  
  
"Shane what's this all about?" She asked seriously.  
  
"I don't know. I needed a new secretary and personnel sent me one, it just happens to be you. I had nothing to do with it" He lied smoothly. Allie looked at him sceptically. He grinned at her in return.  
  
"I, however, must say how pleased I am that we will be working together and I hope we take the opportunity to get to know one another some more."  
  
"How's Marissa?" Allie asked savagely.  
  
"She's fine. Getting a tidy little sum of money out of me, but that's to be expected I suppose." Allie smiled sympathetically. She certainly didn't hate Shane. She didn't really know how she felt.  
  
"So what does my job entail?" Allie asked. Shane described her duties, which were mainly normal secretarial duties.  
  
"So think you can handle that?"  
  
"Of course. Like a piece of cake"  
  
"Good. I was also wondering if you'd let me take you out for dinner? To celebrate our new partnership as working colleagues."  
  
"I don't know if that's a good idea"  
  
"Think about it. You can take a raincheck" Allie nodded and left the room, sat down at her desk and called the others to fill them in immediately.  
  
  
  
Chapter Ten  
  
Mandy and Adam were waiting at the airport for her relatives and family to arrive. Adam was nervously adjusting his collar.  
  
"Are you nervous honey?"  
  
"Well I do want them to like me," he said nervously.  
  
"Well of course they're going to like you" Mandy said confidently and gave him a kiss. At that point Mandy's parents and her friends exited the terminal. They ran up excitedly to her to meet Adam, whom they had all heard so much about.  
  
"Mum, Dad this is Adam" Adam put his hand out and shook Mandy's fathers hand and Mandy's mother gave him a big hug.  
  
"Ok now for some more introductions." Mandy said.  
  
"This is Rob, Laura, Mathew and Nina." They all smiled and shook hands. By all accounts the meeting was a success.  
  
That evening they all went out for dinner, including Lily and Allie. They went to a wonderful Italian restaurant and there were laughs all round. Allie and Lily were also great friends with Mandy's pals from Australia. In fact Lily had dated Mathew for two years before she came to America. Their spilt had been amicable, however, as Mathew had moved interstate. Lily always felt he still had feelings for her but hoped nothing would ever come of it. He had made sure he was sitting next to her at the table and this unnerved her a bit. The evening was filled with laughter and happiness and stories from various members of the group about what they had been up to since they last all got together. Adam was getting along wonderfully with everyone. They were up to ordering their desert when Lily spotted someone entering the restaurant. She took a closer look and realised it was Jeff and Laurie. This stirred up many emotions for her as she still had feelings for him even if he was unreasonable. He looked over; saw her staring at them and quickly steered Laurie away from the table. Five minutes later Lily was still in shock when Jeff walked up to say hello to Adam. He was introduced to everyone and asked to join the group but declined.  
  
"Got a nice little lady over there huh?" asked Rob. Jeff glanced at Lily and then just smiled at Rob and excused himself. Mathew, being the perceptive guy that he is, noticed the exchange between Lily and Jeff and in a low voice asked her what was going on. She just shook her head and said nothing was happening.  
  
"That's the problem then isn't it?" Mathew asked. Lily grinned at him,  
  
"You know me so well" He grinned back at her.  
  
Mandy was having such a wonderful time that evening that she didn't notice the guy sitting behind them staring at her all evening.  
  
"Enjoy it while you can sugar" He murmured into his profiterole dessert.  
  
1 Chapter Eleven  
  
Allie found working for Shane was not as bad as she imagined it to be. She had good hours and he was always nice to her, probably something to do with the fact he still held a torch for her, she surmised. Then came the day that it all changed. It was about three days before Mandy's wedding, a Thursday. It was a day when her dreams would come true and then her life would fall apart. She was sitting at her desk working on a report for Shane when she heard his door open, she turned round to see who was exiting and saw a tall leggy blonde thanking Shane, winking at him and telling him they should do it again sometime. At this Allie just stopped what she was doing and jumped to conclusions. Shane was dating again, she'd waited to long. It made her feel sick. It made her realise how much she did like Shane. There were so many thoughts running round her head, she didn't know which to listen too. Should she talk to him about it? Should she just ignore it? Should she try and make him jealous? It was all too confusing. Eventually she stood up and knocked on Shane's door.  
  
"Come in" said his voice sternly. She opened the door and walked in.  
  
"What can I do for you Allie?"  
  
"I was just wondering who that girl was before." Shane looked at her strangely,  
  
"I just need to know if she had a booking or anything," she added on the end trying to disguise her fact finding mission. He looked at her sceptically,  
  
"What would you do if I told you she was my girlfriend?" he asked. Allie's face contorted into a shocked expression.  
  
"Just as I thought" Shane replied to her expression. He stood up and walked over to her,  
  
"She came for a job interview and threw herself at me," with every word that Shane spoke, Allie, was getting more and more distressed.  
  
"But I declined, I'm not my father" Allie sighed in relief and collapsed into Shane's arms. He held her tightly, slightly confused as to what was happening, but not hating it.  
  
"Shane, I have something to tell you," She whispered. He looked down at her and nodded for her to continue.  
  
"When I thought you and her were, well, I got so scared. It felt all wrong. I felt sick to the stomach. I love you Shane. I want us to be together. I don't care what anyone says; I don't care how Marissa feels. I just want there to be an us." With that she fully burst into tears and buried her face in his chest. He held her tight, as though he would never let her go.  
  
"I feel the same way" he said softly into her hair. She slowly pulled away and looked up into his eyes. She saw the love he felt expressed in his eyes and knew it would be ok, she just knew. He wiped the tears from her eyes and kissed her. They fell back onto the couch in his office and continued. He began to unbutton her shirt and she did nothing to stop him.  
  
Meanwhile.  
  
Mandy was sitting on her couch watching TV and waiting for Lily to finish in the bathroom so she could have a shower and go to bed, they really needed another bathroom. She was watching that evening's episode of Smack down and was extremely excited as Edge just came on the screen. Lily just came out of the Bathroom and sat down next to her. They both watched as Edge suplexed his opponent and screamed along with the crowd as he won his match. They didn't notice the door opening and the two figures walk into the room as the TV was up to loud. They walked up behind the girls and when they did notice it was too late. Something was pressed against their faces and they passed out. The room was soon empty, filled only with the sound of the televised wrestling event.  
  
  
  
Chapter 12  
  
Allie woke up with a crick in her neck, she was a bit confused to where she was at first but when she remembered she grinned.  
  
"Happy are we?" murmured Shane from above. She looked up and saw him standing over her in his boxer briefs.  
  
"Bet you don't often walk around your office in those." Allie joked.  
  
"Well actually." Allie just looked at him and they both burst out laughing. He sat down next to her on the couch.  
  
"Well what do we do now?" asked Shane.  
  
"We go back to my house and do it some more?" Allie asked.  
  
"What's wrong with here?" Shane said smirking at her. They began to kiss again when the phone rang.  
  
"Ignore it" murmured Allie.  
  
"It might be important" Shane said in a mocking voice, remembering that time when they first got together. He stood up and answered the phone.  
  
"Shane McMahon speaking"  
  
"You're in early Shane"  
  
"Wassup Dad"  
  
"Do you know the whereabouts of Allie Donohugh?"  
  
"She's right here dad, why?"  
  
"I'm not going to ask what she's doing in your office at this time of the morning Shane but there is some bad news."  
  
"What? I'll tell her"  
  
"Adam went over to her house this morning and the door was busted open, lily and Mandy are not there and there were signs of a struggle and a note saying, 'Time's up'."  
  
"Oh my god"  
  
Allie was looking at him intently.  
  
"The police don't think she should go back there, can you organise a hotel for her?  
  
"Sure dad"  
  
"Check in with me later. I have to go and call Mandy's parents." Shane hung up and sat down next to Allie and told her. She cried and cried and cried. Her friends were missing; her two closest friends in the world were missing. Shane sat there next to her, holding her and consoling her, though nothing he could say could make her stop crying.  
  
Chapter 13  
  
Lily struggled to open her eyes, she was feely very woozy. There was an oily smell floating up through her nostrils. She tried to move her arms but found they were tied behind her back. It was also the same situation when she tried to move her feet. She looked around and saw she was in a dark little room inhabited by one other person, Mandy. Mandy had still not regained consciousness. As she was wondering what had happened the ground started to rumble and she heard a loud whoosh above her punctuated by the sound of people screaming. This made her feel quite disturbed. Over in the corner Mandy was beginning to stir.  
  
"Mandy?" Lily whispered as she had no idea what sort of situation they were in.  
  
"Lily?" Mandy replied softly.  
  
"Do you know what's going on?"  
  
"Last thing I remember is yelling at you to get out of the shower."  
  
"What's happened?"  
  
"I don't know but I'm scared," Just as Lily said that a door began to open.  
  
"I see you're awake" a voice from the shadows murmured. Lily and Mandy recognised that voice, it was a friendly voice, or so they thought.  
  
"Matt" gasped Mandy.  
  
"Glad to see you know my name" he replied seriously.  
  
"Why?" asked Lily.  
  
"Not because of you, you're my brother's territory, because I want Mandy to know how much I love her"  
  
"Funny way of showing it" Lily said. Matt walked up and hit her.  
  
"If you don't shut up, you'll be getting more than hit." Mandy began to cry.  
  
"You better shut up too. Don't think just because I love you I will show you mercy." Matt stormed out and shut the door. Mandy and Lily looked at each other from across the room; they had no idea what to do.  
  
Allie stared out the window of the hotel room which she was staying in. She had no idea what had happened to Lily and Mandy. She was scared and tired, yet couldn't sleep. She kept wondering what had happened, if she hadn't stayed with Shane would she have been able to prevent it? Shane walked up behind her,  
  
"I know it's hard but can you think of anything? Anything at all?"  
  
"I don't know. I remember before I left Mandy and Lily were going to watch Edge on Raw and Mandy told me to ring if I was. ring that's it! Try their cell phones." Allie ran over to the phone and dialled Mandy's number. It rang and rang. She hung up and dialled Lily's. After a few rings it was answered.  
  
"Hello?" a whispered voice said.  
  
"Lily is this you?" Allie asked.  
  
"Allie? Oh Allie, you have to get us out of here."  
  
"Where are you?"  
  
"I don't know, there's screaming and the floor shakes and it smells like oil."  
  
"Do you know who did this?"  
  
"Matt, Matt Hardy." And with that the phone cut out. She repeated everything she had heard to Shane and then they both ran downstairs to find the police and inform them.  
  
Chapter 14  
  
Lily had crawled over to Mandy's side of the room and they were now sitting back to back wondering what to do. They kept quiet for fear of what Matt could do to them. Matt was standing outside of the room talking to his accomplice, Jay. They were discussing what to do next.  
  
"You know we really should have thought this through more mate." Jay complained.  
  
"Look it's simple, we'll get rid of Lily and me and Mandy will run away."  
  
"Will she want to go with you?" Jay asked.  
  
"Of Course" yelled Matt. He was getting more and more agitated by the second,  
  
"We'll have to wait until this place closes and work out how to get rid of Lily." Jay nodded and watched Matt walk of to get a hot dog. Jay waited until he had left and opened the door. He looked inside and saw the two girls curled up near each other looking so upset. He shook his head and shut the door. How had he got himself into this? Well he knew how, Matt had found out his secret. A couple of months ago Matt had been staying with Jay and had found a journal he kept and read it. He discovered all about Jay's more than platonic feelings for Adam. He promised not to tell anyone and it was forgotten. That is until Adam and Mandy had announced their engagement and Mat had sought him out and explained his plan. He wanted to kidnap Mandy and marry her in a secret wedding and she would realise her love for him. Jay thought that was highly unlikely but it would get her of the scene so he could comfort Adam and even, perhaps, reveal his true feelings to him. However, now he felt the situation was getting out of hand. They had never meant to take Lily but she was there and they couldn't just leave her. Now Matt was talking about killing her, it was all a bit too scary for Jay. He wanted to leave but felt he couldn't as he may be able to stop Matt from doing something rash. He was leaning against the wall when Matt returned. Matt smiled at him and said,  
  
"I have an idea of what to do to Lily" He then grinned evilly looking at the structure above them.  
  
Jeff was pacing up and down his flat. He was scared for Lily. What if something happened to her? She would never know how much he cared for her. So they hadn't talked for a long time, it hadn't muted his feelings for her in the smallest way. He wanted to see her smile, hear her voice, see the weird looks she gave her friends, and listen to her sing along to songs. He wanted her for himself. He vowed to himself to tell her how he felt as soon as he found out what happened to her. As he sat down on his couch there was a knock at the door,  
  
"It's open, come in" he said. In walked Allie, Shane and Vince.  
  
"To what do I owe this honour?" He asked with a woeful smile on his face. He motioned for them to sit down and they did, he noted that Shane was sitting awfully close to Allie and had his hand on her knee, what was the deal with that? He wondered.  
  
"We've been in contact with Lily and Mandy." Vince said gravely. Jeff's face lit up, he began to ask what was happening when Vince shushed him.  
  
"They have been kidnapped and we rang them and had short conversation with them but where unable to ascertain where they were. The one thing we found out was the person responsible."  
  
"Who?" Jeff asked anxiously.  
  
"Your brother," he replied. Jeff's mouth fell open. He was in shock, how could Matt do something like that?  
  
"Do you have any idea where they could be?" asked Shane.  
  
"I can't think of anywhere, did they tell you anything about it?" Jeff asked, racking his brain as to where his brother would take his kidnap victims, it was a very surreal situation.  
  
"She said the ground shook, there was an oily smell and they could hear screaming." Allie said softly, almost on the verge of tears. Jeff shook his head,  
  
"I have no idea." Vince nodded at Jeff,  
  
"If you think of anything will you call us?" This time it was Jeff's turn to nod.  
  
"Shane I think you better take Allie back to the hotel" Vince said and with that they left Jeff to think about where his brother could have taken the girls. Jeff looked at his watch, it was getting late, he decided to try and get some sleep. He lay down on his bed, and for the first time in his life, practically cried himself to sleep, his brother had kidnapped his one true love.  
  
Chapter 15  
  
Lily was shivering, she was only wearing a cotton t-shirt and pyjama bottoms, and it was cold in the room where they were. Mandy too was shivering there in her pyjamas. They had been therefore at least a day and had eaten nothing. The door opened and Matt walked in. He walked over to Lily and smacked her face around a bit. She began to cry and he just yelled abuse at her. He pulled her up by her collar and began to drag her along the floor, not allowing her to walk. She was pulled out into the brisk cold air and saw Jay standing in the shadow of something big. Finally it clicked what the noises had been. Matt shoved her in the back of a golf cart and Matt began to drive her away somewhere. She was bumped around and attained many more bruises to add to the one's Matt had so kindly given to her. He stopped the car and pulled her of the cart. He yelled at her to stand up. She just cried more and collapsed with fear. Matt produced a knife and told her to stand up. She tried to stand again and he put the knife to her throat.  
  
"If you don't do what I say you will die sooner rather than later." He whispered to her through his teeth. He used his knife and cut a shallow wound on her arm, just so she would know he meant business. He walked her over to an outcrop over a lake type thing; she couldn't really see where she was.  
  
"Why?" she gasped as he began to tie her to a pole. He just looked at her.  
  
"You got in my way" Then he punched her in the face. He head dropped, she was unconscious.  
  
"It's not going to be any fun if she can't feel it" Matt groaned. He got his knife and cut both her arms some more so that when she woke up it would hurt more,  
  
"Serves her right for fainting," he muttered. He then went about preparing things for his plan.  
  
  
  
Jeff woke up with a start,  
  
"The theme park," He screamed. She'd be in the old shack underneath the roller coaster, that'd explain the oil, the shaking and the screams; he didn't know why he didn't think of it earlier. He jumped out of bed and put some clothes on; after all he'd look a bit strange running down the street naked. He ran all the way to the hotel where Allie was staying, up the stairs and knocked on the door. He waited a moment when Shane answered the door in his boxer briefs.  
  
"Is Allie here?" Jeff asked quickly, looking at Shane strangely. I mean it wasn't everyday you saw your boss half naked in some girls bedroom. Shane nodded and let him in.  
  
"They're in the amusement park" Jeff said, looking at both Shane and Allie. Just then there was another knock at the door. Shane walked over to answer it while Jeff explained his reasoning to Allie and she put some decent clothes on, he turned around so he didn't see, Jeff always was a gentleman. Shane returned with Mathew following him.  
  
"I couldn't sleep and wondered if you guys were awake, I see you are."  
  
"We've just worked out where they are," Allie said, while buttoning up her shirt.  
  
"Well what are we waiting for?" Mathew asked.  
  
"We should ring Adam" Shane said, while putting his pants and top on. Allie threw him his cell phone from the side table,  
  
"We can call on the way." They all ran down the stairs and jumped into Shane's convertible. He revved the engine and they drove away. Jeff called Adam and he said he'd meet them there and to wait in the car park for him. The mood in the car was nervous, they were all anxious to find their friends and make sure they were ok.  
  
However, Lily was not okay. She started to wakeup and the pain in her arms and head was inscrutable. She opened her eyes and through the blood managed to see Matt standing over her brandishing the now bloody knife. He began to hack of her long brown hair, she watched as it fell to the ground; however this was the least of her problems. Once he had finished cutting her hair, Matt slowly began to use his knife to put small cuts up her leg; he wanted her to bleed to death!  
  
Chapter 16  
  
They pulled up into the car park and saw that it was completely empty, except for Adam's car. He ran over to meet them.  
  
"So what do we do know?" he wanted to know.  
  
"I guess we go and bust in on them." Jeff said.  
  
"It cold be dangerous, he could have a weapon." Mathew stated.  
  
"We should call the police." Allie said.  
  
"There's no time" replied Adam shaking his head.  
  
"Allie I want you to stay here." Shane said gravely.  
  
"No way buster! I can hold myself just as well as you guys all can." He just gave her a look, as he knew it was useless trying to argue with her. They all set of with Jeff in the lead as he knew the way. He and Matt had used to play in the shack when they were kids. They reached the outside and saw Jay slouching against the wall.  
  
"You bastard" yelled Adam as he lunged at him. Jay jumped out of the way as Jeff grabbed Adam and held him back. Allie ran to the door and opened. She looked around and ran over to Mandy who was crying in the corner. She knelt down and hugged her. Adam ran in after her and hugged them both. Allie quietly moved away and let them have their own reunion. She looked around and couldn't see Lily anywhere. She ran outside.  
  
"Guy's Lily's not there." Jeff looked at Jay fiercely and he said in reply,  
  
"The lake." Jeff turned and began to run. The others all followed except for Mandy and Adam who were still hugging in the shack. Jeff rounded the corner and saw a sight he would never forget. Matt pushed Lily of the edge of the pier and into the water. Without even stopping to think Jeff took a long jump and dived in after her. Matt looked up in shock when he saw the others. He didn't try to run; he just stood there with his knife. Jeff was swimming towards Lily and could see her sinking to the bottom, with blood in the water all around her. It was then he remembered why Matt liked this lake so much. His favourite animals were sharks and that's what lived in the lake. He swam faster and faster over to Lily and when he reached her he grabbed her and began to kick his way to the top. When he reached the surface he swam to the edge of the water and began to climb out. He saw Matt sitting down on a step and watching what was going on. As he dragged Lily out of the water he lay her down and began to give her mouth to mouth resuscitation. As he was doing this the others gathered around to help, except for Allie. She walked slowly over to Matt and sat down next to him,  
  
"I don't know why I did it Allie"  
  
"I don't know why either"  
  
"I just love Mandy so much and Lily got in the way, I got carried away." He looked at Allie and she looked back at him and he finished his sentence,  
  
"Like I'm getting carried away now." He grabbed Allie and pulled her up. He put the knife to her throat and yelled at the others.  
  
"You will do as I say." They al turned and saw him with Allie. Shane gasped with horror. His heart was racing so fast, he had more adrenaline than he had ever had in a match. He counted to three and jumped at Matt he managed to push Allie out of the way and wrestled Matt to the ground. Matt put the knife to Shane throat. Shane was holding his arms so that he couldn't move. Jeff ran over and grabbed the knife. Mathew ran over with the rope that had been tying up Lily and tied up Matt's arms and feet. They all moved away. Allie was sitting next to Lily and crying. Lily had started breathing and coughed up water but was still unconscious, they had to get her to a hospital, but first they had to get Mandy and Adam and Jay from the roller coaster shack. Jeff and Mathew propped up Lily on their shoulders and carried her back to the car. Allie and Shane walked briskly back to the shack. When they arrived they knew something was up. They could hear shouting from inside. They ran up, but the door was locked.  
  
"Jay don't" cried Mandy's voice from inside.  
  
"I can't live without you." Jay cried in reply.  
  
"Listen Jay, we can work something out." Adam said trying to sound calm.  
  
"NO WE CAN'T" he screamed. Then they heard a gunshot, followed by Mandy screaming.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Chapter 17  
  
One Week Later.  
  
Allie slipped on her black heels and straightened her black dress. It was the day of the funeral. Lily was unable to go as she was still recuperating in the hospital and Jeff was by her side everyday, being her friend. Nothing had happened between them but everyone who went into the room could feel the tension. Adam was really cut up about his friend and partner's death, but the revelations that Jay had homosexual feelings towards him had freaked him out a bit. Mandy was avoiding Adam, as he reminded her of everything that had happened that night, today at Jay's funeral would be the first time they saw each other since that night, he'd called and left messages but she had ignored them. There was a knock on Allie's hotel room door and she went to answer it. She opened the door and saw Shane standing there with a box of twelve dozen white roses. She accepted them, smiled and let him in. He sat down on the bed and sighed. He was looking tired and haggard, like he hadn't slept in awhile. This upset Allie, although this was not the time to discuss it. She tied back her hair and looked at the door. Shane stood up and they walked out silently.  
  
Mandy stood silently looking into the casket, they had done good job of covering up the bullet wound. She still couldn't bear to think back to what had happened. It would come to her in flashes during the night and she would wake up in her hotel room screaming. Matt had managed to get away before the police arrive, Shane and Allie had come to rescue her and Jeff and Mathew had carried Lily to the car leaving Matt unattended and he managed to run away. That was the reason they couldn't go home, it was unsafe until he was caught. She could remember so vividly, the smell of oil, the stench of Jay's blood once he did it. The bright red liquid slowly dripping out of his mouth. The look in his eyes when he realised he had no other choice. Although he did have a choice, he just didn't think he did. She couldn't bear to talk to Adam, he reminded her too much of that night when her innocence was lost. This experience was going to change her. She hadn't said more than five words since she had been rescued; she had nothing left to say. The only way she could deal with her trauma was to block out the rest of the world. She laid a rose on Jay's chest and apologized to him. She apologized for taking his love away from him. She slowly walked away from the corpse and sat down in a chair. Adam came and sat next to her. She looked at him and stared for a moment, then stood up and walked outside. He just sat and watched her go.  
  
Allie walked up to the body and stared. It shocked her, he looked so white and pale, and it was such an unnecessary death. She had tears in her eyes; she had always got along well with him and now wished she had taken the time to know him better, even if he had kidnapped her friends. She placed her flower on his chest and whispered,  
  
"Jai Meher Baba," and walked away. She ran into Shane who was standing waiting for her. He hugged her and she hugged him back. Neither of them had said much all morning. They pulled apart and saw Adam crying over the body of his former partner. Allie walked over to him, put her arm around him and led him away.  
  
"I mightn't have loved him the way he wanted me too but I loved him like a brother." He buried his head in her shoulder and Allie looked around for Mandy, thinking she should be the one consoling Adam.  
  
At the hospital, Jeff was sitting beside Lily's bed watching her sleep. He was holding a bunch of Lilies of the Valley and waiting for her to wake up so he could tell her. He was finally going to tell her his secret. He hoped she would understand and forgive him for keeping it from her. He watched her breathe and was amazed at how she did it with such grace. Everything she did made him fall more and more in love with her by the second. He reached his hand out and covered hers with it. At this moment she opened her eyes and squeezed his hand back.  
  
"Lily I have something to tell you," he said gravely. She nodded at him with her clear, trusting eyes.  
  
"Lily, I."  
  
Chapter Eighteen  
  
Lily watched as Jeff began to tell her something, but she couldn't concentrate and tuned out from what he was saying. She just stared at his face and felt calmer than she had in weeks. How could he have such a horrible bother?  
  
"Lily are you listening to me?"  
  
"Sorry, I just went a bit strange" she muttered.  
  
"That's ok. It's just this is kinda important to me. Lily, I have a Seven year old son." Lily just looked at him,  
  
"His name is Alex and his mother is Laurie. I was engaged to his mother until I decided I didn't want to marry her, I didn't love her like I do someone else."  
  
"How old were you when he was born?" Lily asked softly.  
  
"I was in my last year of high school. I will always be his father, he's my responsibility now."  
  
"Oh" was all Lily said in reply. She looked at Jeff who had just put his heart on the line for her.  
  
"I'd like to meet him sometime." She said slowly with a grin. Jeff grinned back at her. He handed her the flowers and watched her as she smelt them. He leaned in close to her face and caressed her cheek. He leaned in even closer, if that was possible, and,  
  
"Hiya peoples! What's up?" Mathew said as he walked in. Jeff sprang away from Lily and leant back into his chair. Lily lay on the bed trying to hide her blush.  
  
"Nothing much" Jeff said and Lily nodded to show her agreement. Mathew looked at them both and tried to hide a smile.  
  
"I'm actually kinda thirsty, I'm going to get a coffee, would you like one Jeff?" Jeff shook his head and Mathew backed out of the room.  
  
"Now where were we?" asked Lily. Jeff smiled at her once more and leaned in and they kissed, finally. Jeff manoeuvred himself so that he was on top of her when Lily screeched. Jeff jumped and immediately asked her what was wrong.  
  
"My bruises and cuts, it hurt when you put pressure on them," she said through gritted teeth. Jeff looked concerned and began to apologize.  
  
"But I think it'd hurt more if you didn't start kissing me again in the next five seconds." Jeff grinned more than he ever had before as he leaned over Lily once more, being careful not to hurt her injuries.  
  
Mandy was sitting in the park down the road from her house when Adam approached her; she wanted to run but saw the look of sadness on his face and made herself stay. He placed himself on the bench next to her.  
  
"How are you?" He asked her simply. She looked at him quizzically, as thought trying to understand him.  
  
"Not too good, "She replied then asked him the same question,  
  
"Not to good here either, but Mandy, I need you. The way you've shut me out has hurt me so much and while I understand the trouble you must be having, I'm your fiancé, the guy you're meant to want to live your future with and you don't seem to trust me. I would have been there to help you but you shut me out. I don't think I can marry you anymore. If at the sign of trouble you can't turn to me, when can you?" With that Adam stood up and walked away from the chair. Mandy sat there with tears running down her cheeks. She pulled her coat more tightly around her and began to rock back and forth. Her future had been ruined and now her one true love had completely barred her. She stayed there for four hours until it began to snow. She felt the flakes fall lightly on her head and knew it was time to get on with her life. She was going to move back to Australia.  
  
Shane and Allie were sitting on the couch in front of the television in Allie's hotel room. They had just finished watching The Patriot and Allie had tears streaming down her cheeks. Allie was leaning against Shane and he was lovingly stroking her hair. They stayed like that for awhile after the movie finished until Shane broke the silence,  
  
"There's something I have to ask you Al."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Will you be my girlfriend?" He asked cheesily. Allie giggled, twirled her hair and began to talk in a cheesy American accent,  
  
"Well I don't know Shane, one of the guys that hangs around the basket ball courts asked me this the other day and I said I'd get back to him." Shane pretended to look hurt,  
  
"But I'm on the football team!" He whinged in reply.  
  
"Well I suppose so, but only on a trial basis, you know, in case the other guy kisses better, which, you know, wouldn't be too hard." She grinned at Shane and he hit her playfully across the face.  
  
"Shane I'd love too and you are a much better kisser than any other guy," She said seriously,  
  
"In fact I think you need to prove it too me now." She said winking at him.  
  
Mathew was sitting in the hospital cafeteria wondering if he should just go home as it was obvious Jeff and Lily wanted some time alone. He was good friends with Lily and could feel the tension between her and Jeff and was glad it was finally resolved. He poked at the ham sandwich gracing his plate and picked it up to take a bite when a young blonde girl walked up to him.  
  
"Hello, do you mind if I sit here, I like to look out the window while I'm eating, it takes my mind of things." Mathew nodded and returned to his sandwich. They sat there in silence for a few minutes until the girl began to talk to him again,  
  
"My name's Casey, what's yours?"  
  
"Mathew"  
  
"Oh wow you're Australian"  
  
"Is my accent that obvious?"  
  
"Like a fish in the desert"  
  
"I guess I'll have to work on it." Casey bit her lip and began to ask him another question,  
  
"Why are you here, if you don't mind me asking?"  
  
"A friend of mine was hurt badly by this guy and she was almost killed."  
  
"That's horrible"  
  
"Tell me about it, why are you here?"  
  
"My friend's in a coma, she was hit by a car. I hate hospitals; they give out such bad vibes." Mathew nodded. He was growing to like this girl, she was simple and honest.  
  
"Would I be too forward in asking you out?" She said softly.  
  
"Not at all," Mathew replied. They set up a date for the next evening and he ran to tell Lily about it, he knew she would be happy for him. Casey walked out of the hospital, picked up her cell phone and rang someone,  
  
"Phase one is complete, we are so in."  
  
  
  
Chapter Nineteen  
  
"But you can't go back to Australia"  
  
"Why not Lily?"  
  
"Cause we want you here" Allie implored.  
  
"I'm just not having fun here anymore."  
  
"But Mandy, we'll miss you and I know a lot of other people who will miss you too." Lily explained.  
  
"I just want to leave as soon as possible."  
  
"Can you at least stay for my birthday party next week?" Allie looked at Mandy putting on a puppy dog expression. Mandy nodded, but in her mind she was now regretting the decision as Allie was very likely to invite Adam, as most of the staff she knew was invited. Allie squealed and hugged her, Lily did the same and they stood there in a big group hug.  
  
"Oh guys I have to run, Jeff and I are going out on a date"  
  
"Your first proper one?" Allie inquired. Lily nodded and this time Mandy squealed.  
  
"Have fun," said Allie mischievously. Lily grinned at them, grabbed her bag and walked out the door of their apartment, which they were now back in as it seemed as though Matt had disappeared for awhile. Mandy sat down on the couch and sighed. She kept staring at the finger where her ring used to be, Adam had taken it back on that fateful night. Allie looked at her sitting there and wished there was something she could do to cheer her up.  
  
"What are you doing tonight Mandy?"  
  
"I'm just going to watch TV."  
  
"Do you want to come out with me and Shane?"  
  
"No it's ok; I don't want to get in the way."  
  
"You wouldn't be in the way."  
  
"I'm going to have an early night anyway."  
  
"Ok then, well I'm going to have a shower because Shane O will be here in half an hour." Allie ran off down the hall and into her bedroom. Mandy sat in front o the television hugging her pillow and began to watch the episode of Smack down which was on (It was a Thursday night after all). Her eyes filled with tears as she watched Adam make his return after Jay's death. She began crying loudly when she heard a knock at the door. Allie was still in the shower so she tried to compose herself and answered the door. She opened it and Shane was standing there with a bunch of flowers. He took one look at her face and said,  
  
"I think you need these more than Allie." He handed them too her and gave her a big hug. She smiled gratefully and they both went in and sat down. Shane saw what she was watching and began to understand.  
  
"He's upset to." Shane said simply. Mandy stopped crying for a second and looked at Shane with eyes filled with hope,  
  
"Really?" Shane nodded. Mandy started to think maybe there was hope for them and all they needed was a bit of time apart. She started to plan exactly what she was going to wear to Allie's party as that was the next time she would see him. He could see he'd cheered her up and was glad, he hated seeing people upset.  
  
"Hiya Shane O," Allie said as she bounced into the room excitedly. He stood up and they kissed. Allie noticed Mandy sitting there with the flowers and smiled at Shane.  
  
"Are you sure you don't want to come Mandy?" Mandy nodded and turned the TV off,  
  
"I have something to plan now." She walked off into her bedroom.  
  
"What did you say to her?" Allie asked Shane.  
  
"Just that I wanted her and I was going to dump you and we could be together." Shane grinned as he spoke. Allie hit him playfully,  
  
"Let's go or we'll miss the film, you stud you." She pecked him on the cheek and they walked out the door.  
  
"Oh and by the way we're not going to the movies, I have a better idea." Allie looked at Shane questioningly, but he just motioned himself zipping his lips.  
  
"I don't think I can do this, what if I fall over?"  
  
"Come on, it'll be fun, trust me."  
  
"Yeah trust the guy who jumps of twenty foot ladders and call's it fun."  
  
Jeff stuck his tongue out at her and pulled her up from her seat at the side of the lake. Lily looked dubiously at the ice.  
  
"I'm not sure if I can do this."  
  
"Sure you can." He pulled her out onto the lake and held her on the ice so she could get used to it. Lily kept biting her bottom lip and looking at the ice.  
  
"Just hold on tight and don't look down." He bent over and kissed her. Lily smiled in return and gripped his hand strongly. Jeff pulled her along and she gradually began to move her skates,  
  
"Hey I'm skating!"  
  
"You're skating" Lily began to go a bit faster and then let go of Jeff's hand, thinking she could do it. She was fine for a minute or so and then she suddenly slipped forward. She landed with a thump on the ice and Jeff skated over quickly. He leant over and gave her his hand. She took it and tried to pull herself up but managed to fall over again. She looked like she was about to cry and was rubbing her ankle. Jeff leant over and scooped her up of the ice and carried her, while skating (he was a man of many talents), back to a seat at the edge. He sat her down and looked concerned,  
  
"Are you okay?"  
  
"I think I've done something to my ankle," she whimpered.  
  
"Okay well why don't we take you to the hospital and get it looked at. Can you walk on it?"  
  
"I don't think so," murmured Lily. Jeff looked at her and once again picked her up. He carried her to the car and placed her in the back seat so she could stretch out her leg. He then drove her to the hospital.  
  
"Ok you can open your eyes now." Allie opened her eyes and gasped,  
  
"Oh it's amazing Shane."  
  
"Really? You like it?" Allie nodded vigorously as she surveyed the room filled with candles and the roaring fire. Shane had taken her to the McMahon's ski lodge and decorated it especially for her. Shane led her of the landing and down to the sofa in front of the fireplace.  
  
"Now you just wait here." Allie nodded and Shane walked of into another room. She was still in shock, but it was a good shock for a change. She undid her coat and hung it on the coat rack by the door when Shane returned with a bottle of champagne cooling in an ice bucket and a bowl of chocolate dipped strawberries. He motioned for her to sit down and she did. He sat next to her and poured her a glass. He handed it to her,  
  
"I want to toast you Allie, you've changed my life, I've never been this happy."  
  
"Neither have I" The clinked glasses but before Allie could take a sip of Champagne she felt Shane's lips on hers. Though he pulled away after a moment and said,  
  
"I have something else for you." He pulled out a long rectangular box. He handed it to her and she delicately opened it. Inside was an exquisite gold bracelet with an engraving on the inside which read,  
  
'You are my missing half and I never want to lose you.' Allie looked at Shane with her clear blue eyes,  
  
"This means more to me than you can ever imagine, thank you." She smiled at her and hugged her tightly, he never wanted to let go, this was true love. He kissed her deeply and they rolled onto the rug in front of the fire.  
  
Chapter Twenty  
  
Jeff sat in the emergency room, waiting while Lily had her ankle x-rayed. She hadn't had much luck lately, what with his brother attempting to kill her and him letting her break her ankle on their first date.  
  
"Mr Hardy?" The nurse called. He jumped to his feet.  
  
"Lily is asking for you."  
  
"Is she okay?"  
  
"She's fine, just a bit of a sprained ankle. A few days of it and she'll be right as rain." Jeff did a big sigh of relief. He walked into the room where she was sitting on the bed.  
  
"Hey Jeff."  
  
"Guess ice skating was a bad idea."  
  
"It's the thought that counts. How would you know that I'm spastic enough to sprain my ankle?"  
  
"You're not spastic. If you'd have broken it then you would have been spastic." Lily pouted at him.  
  
"Come on let's get you home," He said helping her into the wheel chair provided to get her to the car. They got into the car and Jeff was starting the engine.  
  
"Jeff?"  
  
"Mmm?" he nodded in reply.  
  
"Can we go back to your place?" Lily asked, looking at him intently. He looked back at her and nodded with a hint of grin on his face. Lily smiled at him and shifted in her seat trying to get comfortable. They sat in silence for the rest of the drive to Jeff's house and when they stopped her opened her door and helped her to the house. He led her inside and sat her down on a blue sofa that adorned his sitting room.  
  
"Sorry I haven't really cleaned up the mess. I didn't think I would be having visitors."  
  
"It's not that messy." Lily said looking around dubiously at the clothes strewn around the room and the piles of books on the floor. She could see a pile of toys in the corner which obviously belonged to Alex. On the mantelpiece there were pictures of Jeff's family, ranging from his parents, to Matt, to Alex.  
  
"Would you like drink?" he asked kindly. She shook her head. She sat rubbing her ankle,  
  
"I can't believe I was stupid enough to fall over."  
  
"Well girls do tend to fall for me," Jeff said in mock seriousness. Lily grinned widely at him.  
  
"I know I've fallen for you," she said seductively, while batting her eyelashes at him. He looked down at her and picked her up. Lily screamed with surprise,  
  
"Where are you taking me?"  
  
"To the bedroom," he growled in response.  
  
"Hello?" Mandy's inquiry was met with silence. She hung up the phone and began to worry. She was home alone and that was the third phone call where no one had spoken. She didn't know who to call. Lily was with Jeff, Mathew was out with Casey again and Allie was of with Shane. She didn't want to interrupt the, but she was really starting to freak out. She didn't know ho to call. The only person she could think of was Adam. She dialled the familiar number and waited as it rang.  
  
"Hello?" said a groggy voice on the other end.  
  
"Adam, I need your help."  
  
"Mandy is this you?"  
  
"Adam, I've been getting weird phone calls."  
  
"Aren't the others home?"  
  
"No and I can't get hold of any of them."  
  
"Do you want me to come over?" Adam asked reluctantly.  
  
"Yeah, if you don't mind. I just couldn't think of anyone else to ring."  
  
"Ok," Adam replied shortly and hung up. Mandy sat huddled in a corner of the couch and sat waiting for Adam. She jumped when the doorbell rang and ran over to open it. She peered through the peephole and saw Adam standing there, looking half asleep and dishevelled. She opened the door and let him in.  
  
"Thank yo so much for coming over," Adam just nodded at her in reply. He went and sat down on the couch. She sat down opposite him, when he said,  
  
"Shouldn't you go to bed? I'll just sleep out here in case anything happens." Mandy looked at him and saw his eyes were stony and unloving towards her. He was emotionless, he didn't seem to realise she still needed him. She nodded, stood up and walked into her bedroom. Once in there she lay on her bed and let the tears run freely down her cheeks. If she'd have looked back she would have seen the tear running down Adam's cheek as his façade failed.  
  
It was around three in the morning when Allie opened her eyes. She was wrapped lying in front of the fire in Shane's arms when she kept hearing some small bangs on the roof.  
  
"Shane?" She asked softly.  
  
"Hmmmm?" he murmured almost inaudibly.  
  
"Can you hear that?"  
  
"Hear what?" he groaned. All of a sudden there was a big whoosh and a deafening banging sound from all around them. Shane jumped and they both sat up quickly.  
  
"What's going on?" asked Allie sounding scared.  
  
"I don't know," said Shane in reply. He stood up and pulled on his jeans. He walked over to the door and tried to open it. It was stuck. He pulled harder and finally wrenched it open only to be greeted by a mass f white snow falling through the door. He walked over to the window and opened the curtain. He saw that behind the window it was white.  
  
"I think we are stuck." He said solemnly.  
  
"What?" Allie asked.  
  
"It appears that we can't get out because there is snow in the way."  
  
"We can't what?" Allie asked sounding mightily pissed off.  
  
"I think that we are snowed in."  
  
"Snowed in?" screeched Allie. Shane nodded.  
  
"Oh my god," Allie whimpered and fell to her knees and began to cry. Shane ran over to the phone and picked it up. The line was dead. He pulled out his cell phone and tried that, there was no signal. Allie was watching him as he did this and his failure only made her cry more. He ran over to her and sat down next to her. The fire was now extinguished due to the fact that the fire place was filled with snow.  
  
"It's ok Allie, they'll find us."  
  
"Who'll find us? No one knows where we are"  
  
"Dad knows. He'll realise something's wrong."  
  
"I hope so, because I don't want to freeze to death."  
  
"I don't want you to freeze to death either, which is why we should move into another room without melting snow in it and why you should put on your overcoat." Allie nodded t him and stood up. She dressed and he led her into the bedroom. They both sat down on the bed and Allie began to cry again. She was more scared than she had ever been in her whole life. Shane put his arm around her and began to rock her back and forth. He son felt her breathing steady itself and get deeper and deeper. She'd fallen asleep in his arms. He couldn't let her know how scared he was for them. He hoped Vince would work out what had happened before it was too late. He kissed her forehead and lay her and himself down on the bed and pulled the covers over them. He could already feel her begin to shiver. He hugged her tighter and shut his eyes, hoping she would be okay.  
  
  
  
  
  
Chapter Twenty One  
  
Allie was unable to stop herself from shivering. She was curled up under all the blankets in the house, wearing all the clothes and was huddled up with Shane. She turned herself around so she was facing him. He too was shivering and was lying awake. They had been there for one night and it was quickly getting colder and colder. They little food and when they did go to get some it was impossible to warm up afterwards. Allie had very little energy left and kept drifting in and out of sleep. Shane was unable to sleep and lay there worrying about the two of them. Allie's face was paler than normal and her lips were tinged slightly blue. He hoped they would be rescued soon as he didn't know if she could last much longer. He kept thinking back to the good times they had had together and using his memories to keep him sane. Sure he had believed that Marissa was his one true love, but how wrong had he been. She had never listened to him, treated him nicely or been half as nice, funny and caring as Allie. He was so happy he had taken the risk to be with her; so far it had paid of. They lay there staring at each other for what felt like forever when Allie mouthed,  
  
"I love you so much." She was barely audible and immediately after shut her eyes and fell limp. Shane stared in shock for a second before he realised what was going on, she was unconscious. He had no idea what to do. He sat upright and held her in his arms and rocked her. He prayed that they would be rescued soon, the sooner the better.  
  
Lily woke up at Jeff's side and looked around the room, it was a bit of a mess but it sure did smell nice, like Jeff. She rolled over when she heard the doorbell ring. Jeff sat straight up and looked at his watch.  
  
"Shit," he swore loudly.  
  
"What's wrong?" Lily asked.  
  
"It's my weekend with Alex and that'll be Laurie dropping him over."  
  
"Oh okay, what's wrong with that?"  
  
"Nothing it's just I completely forgot and a naked woman in my bed is not necessarily what I want my son to see." Lily nodded as Jeff jumped up and dragged on a pair of jeans and a shirt. Lily leant over the edge of the bed and grabbed her skirt and the nearest top, which was a t-shirt of Jeff's. She pulled them on and Jeff helped her over to the couch in the sitting room. She sat there as Jeff went and answered the door. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted her bra on the floor. She decided this might not have been the best place for it and leant over to pick it up and stuff it behind the couch. However this did not go as planned and she managed to fall of the couch and end up sprawled on the floor grabbing her underwear when Laurie, Alex and Jeff returned.  
  
"And this is Lily," Jeff said and his voice trailed of as he saw her lying on the ground. He covered his mouth to stop himself from laughing. Laurie stood there looking a bit confused but just shook her head,  
  
"You can explain this one. See you on Sunday night." She turned and walked out. Alex stood there looking confused at Lily and said,  
  
"Daddy, who's that?"  
  
"Alex this is Lily, a friend of mine."  
  
"Are you guys having sex? A friend of mine told me all about that the other day at school." Jeff just looked at his son and then back at Lily. He shook his head and helped Lily back to the chair. As she settled down, Alex ran up to her and sat down next to her,  
  
"What did you do to your foot?" he asked inquisitively. Lily proceeded to tell him and Jeff smiled as he watched them get along so well, he needn't have ever been worried.  
  
Adam put his hand on Mandy's bedroom doorknob. He didn't know if this was a good idea or not, he missed her so much and could hardly bear being apart from her but she had been so cold to him that he felt their relationship could no longer work. He backed away and went and sat down on the lounge. As he sat down Mandy came out of her bedroom in her dressing gown. She walked up and stood in front of Adam,  
  
"I can't live without you and I don't care what you say. I know I treated you badly but I didn't know how to deal. Adam I love you with all my heart and really do want to marry you. I want to wear your ring and only your ring." With that final phrase she let her robe slide to the ground and stood there holding out her hand to him. Adam stared in surprise and all he could say was,  
  
"I don't have the ring on me." She looked at him, turned and walked of to her bedroom. He quickly stood up and followed, picking up her robe on the way.  
  
Chapter Twenty Two  
  
Allie opened her eyes and all she could see was white. She couldn't remember anything that had happened to her in the past 48 hours. She blinked and began to make out shapes of familiar people around her. She could see Shane, Lily, Mandy, Mathew and Jeff standing and sitting in various positions around the room. She tried to move her arm, but it was too heavy. She let out a slight moan and everyone turned to look at her.  
  
"Allie? Are you awake? Someone get the doctor!" Shane cried as he ran over to her side. Jeff ran out to get the doctor as Shane grabbed Allie's hand. He squeezed it gently and was filled with relief as she squeezed back. He smiled down at her and she managed a weak smile back. The doctor walked in and ordered them all out of the room. Shane blew her a kiss as he backed out the door.  
  
"Now how are we feeling?" the doctor asked nicely.  
  
"I don't remember how I got here."  
  
"That's natural, but the good news is you and the baby are fine."  
  
"Baby?" Allie asked confused.  
  
"Yes, you're pregnant, didn't you know?" Allie shook her head and looked like she was about to cry.  
  
"Oh I take it isn't welcomed news then." Once again Allie shook her head. Thoughts were whirling round her head. Her last memory was of Shane giving her a bracelet and then it all went a blank.  
  
"You've suffered a severe case of hypothermia and it may have affected your memory."  
  
"Why am I here? Why did that happen? How pregnant am I?"  
  
"You were in a cabin which was snowed in and therefore no heat for a day or two. Apparently you fainted and Shane, is that his name? He looked after you until the rescuers arrived. Your One Month pregnant, give or take a couple of days."  
  
"I'm pregnant." Allie repeated unemotionally. She was going to have a baby and Shane was the father.  
  
"Did you tell anyone about the baby? Did you tell Shane?"  
  
"I've told no one. It's your business, though I do strongly recommend you inform the father." Allie nodded and shut her eyes.  
  
"I realise this is a big shock for you but you have try and remain calm for yours and the baby's sake. I'd like to keep you in over night for observation and providing everything is ok you can go home tomorrow. I'll send your friends in shall I?"  
  
"Can you just send in Shane? Like tell the others only one at a time or something?" The doctor nodded and walked out of the room. A few seconds later Shane walked in and sat down in the chair next to her bed.  
  
"Are you okay?" He asked worriedly. Allie nodded,  
  
"Te doctor said you mightn't remember stuff, do you want me to fill you in?" Allie shook her head,  
  
"There's something important I have to tell you." Shane nodded at her and grabbed her hand and began to caress it.  
  
"I'm pregnant and the baby is yours." Shane stopped rubbing her hand and stared at her.  
  
"You're not serious?" Allie nodded in reply.  
  
"I just found out then, I'm a month along, which means we can get rid of it if you want."  
  
"If I want? It's your decision." Allie wiped her tears away,  
  
"I don't think I could go through with a ter, ter, termination. See I can't even say it. What are we going to do?"  
  
"I'll be here for you Allie, I love you and you mean everything to me. If you want this child then I want it too and we'll give it everything, the best, what it deserves." Allie began to sob loudly.  
  
"What's wrong?" Shane asked. Allie sniffed,  
  
"Why are you so nice? I love you so much." There was a knock on the door and they both turned and looked,  
  
"Do you want to tell them?" Shane asked.  
  
"Not yet, not yet." Shane leant over and gave her a kiss. He then stood up and let Lily and Mandy in for a tearful reunion with their best friend.  
  
  
  
Chapter Twenty Three  
  
Mandy was getting ready for Allie's birthday party and was filled with trepidation as it would be the first time she saw Adam since they had, well you know. She had called him but he hadn't returned her calls, it was upsetting her but she firmly believed that that night had changed everything and they were back together, he was probably just really busy or something. She looked at her watch and hoped the others were also getting ready. The party started at 7 and was being held at Shane's home. Mandy stood up and walked over to Lily's room and knocked on the door, Lily hadn't been seen all day. The door opened and out walked Jeff,  
  
"Hey Mandy," he said awkwardly. Mandy just smiled,  
  
"Are you guys ready? I don't think Allie want's to be late."  
  
"I think Mandy will be out in a minute." He then walked down the hall and poured a glass of milk for himself and sat down on the couch and waited. Allie walked out of her room and started calling the others,  
  
"Guys let's go! We don't want to be late; you know how I like to get everywhere early!"  
  
"Yeah we know" Lily said emerging from her room.  
  
"Then why do you make me wait?" Allie inquired.  
  
"Let's just go." Mandy said plainly, trying to calm the butterfly's in her stomach. They all went down stairs and hoped into Jeff's car and drove to Shane's. They were going to be early, but of course, when Allie was involved, that was normal.  
  
Shane was pacing up and down the hall waiting for Allie to arrive, he had something to ask her and could barely wait and contain his excitement. He looked in the mirror and smoothed down his hair, if everything went as planned this would be a night he would remember forever and he had to look his best. He began to pace again when the doorbell rang. He jogged over and opened it to see Lily, Mandy, Jeff and Allie standing there,  
  
"Come on in guys," He said gesturing to the rest of the house. They filed in and he showed them to the lounge area. They weren't at the McMahon mansion but Shane's house was pretty big anyway. Lily, Mandy and Jeff began expecting the living room and looking at al the books Shane had on the shelves. Allie began to kiss Shane and he pulled away,  
  
"Come with me." He then pulled her out of the room and upstairs to his bedroom.  
  
"What's going on?" Allie giggled. Shane looked at her seriously and knelt down on one knee,  
  
"You're not about to do what I think you're about to do are you?" Allie asked cautiously. Shane reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box.  
  
"Oh my god" Allie said.  
  
"Would you shut up for a second?" Shane asked exasperatedly. Allie zipped her lips and stood there silently.  
  
"Alexandra Donohugh, I love you. I want to be with you and I would like you to do me the honour of marrying me." He didn't need to wait for an answer as Allie had started nodding as he started the question. He handed her the ring and she put it on her finger. He then stood up and they embraced. They kissed passionately and fell back onto the bed.  
  
Mandy was standing around talking to Kurt about how her plans to go back to Australia were currently on hold. Kurt seemed rather pleased about this and kept trying to suss out the situation between Mandy and Adam, however he was getting nowhere. He had always been attracted to Mandy but she'd never seemed as available as she was now. He was about to begin obviously flirting with her when he saw her jaw drop. He looked over his shoulder and saw that Adam had just entered the party and he wasn't alone. Draped over his arm was Nora, known to the public as Molly Holly. She and Adam were looking very cosy and they looked even cosier still when she leant over and pashed him in front of everybody. Mandy stood there with her mouth open; she didn't know what to think. She turned around and walked out of the room via the other door. Kurt turned and followed her as he could see she was visibly upset. Mandy walked into the nearest room she could find and came across Jeff and Lily naked on the couch,  
  
"Can't you guys keep your hands of each other for two seconds?" She asked as she slammed the door shut behind her. She then ran upstairs and opened another random dor only to come across Shane and Allie lying on his bed.  
  
"Jesus guys, your all like rabbits." She cried as she ran out.  
  
"What was all that about?" Shane asked slightly confused. Allie shrugged and just starred at her ring. Mandy ran into the room next door only to discover the spare bedroom with no one on the bed. She lay down on the bed and began to weep. Kurt walked in after her and sat down on the edge of the bed.  
  
"What's up?" He asked her softly. Between tears she managed to tell him the story and he listened well, he never offered advice, just a shoulder for her to cry on. He lay down next to her and gave her a hug. She appreciated how nice he was being to her, she didn't find anything strange until Kurt started kissing her neck, at which point she froze, what was happening? As she was about to pull away the door opened and in stumbled Adam and Nora. Everyone looked at each other and there was shock on everyone's faces, as well as guilt on most. Adam and Mandy just stared at each other until Adam and Nora walked out. Mandy began to cry even louder, now Adam thought she was a floozy!  
  
Chapter Twenty Four  
  
Two Weeks Later  
  
Mandy was standing next to the water cooler backstage at Raw; it was her final WWF event before she flew back to Australia that Wednesday. She leant against it and sighed, she was disappointed at going but felt she had had enough of the WWF and its superstars. It had been a turbulent couple of months. She had successfully avoided Adam since that night and knew that neither of them wanted to see the other. She picked up her glass and walked slowly back to the viewing room to watch the last matches of the evening. She slowly meandered down the corridors that held so many memories for her, many of them now painful. She would be sad to go but no longer felt the need to stay in America. She put her hand on the door knob to open the door to the room when there was a tap on her shoulder. She turned ad saw Nora.  
  
"Oh it's you," she spat.  
  
"Look Mandy there is something I have to tell you." Mandy just stared, her face emotionless, she jerked her head indicating for Nora to continue.  
  
"Well I just thought you needed to know that Adam wouldn't stop talking about you. It really hurt him seeing you with Kurt that night."  
  
"It hurt him to see me with Kurt? I wasn't even doing anything with Kurt and it hurt me to see him with you."  
  
"Don't tell me this- tell him." With that Nora turned around and walked of down the corridor. Mandy stood there and contemplated what Nora had said, she wanted to talk to Adam but felt it wasn't the right thing for her to do at that time. She wanted some time without a guy in her life, without Adam, strange as it may seem. As he made this realisation she began to feel so much better about herself, so much better that she began too realise that she didn't need Adam to be herself, she was fine without him, though she did miss him a real lot. Once again she sighed and shook her head at herself. She opened the door and went and sat down to watch the last of Raw.  
  
"I'll be right back after my spot and then we can go. Ok?" Allie nodded at Shane in reply and smiled,  
  
"Just be careful" she said calmly. Shane kissed her on the cheek, grabbed his kendo stick and walked out of the room. Allie watched him go and as soon as he shut the door she grabbed her stomach and began to moan. She had terrible pains in her stomach, almost so bad that she couldn't walk. She didn't want to tell Shane because he would worry and be preoccupied while wrestling which was dangerous in itself. Her eyes began to fill with tears as the pain intensified. She knew there was something wrong with the baby and had to do something. She began to gasp as the pain made it more and more difficult for her to breathe. She went to stand up and make her way to the door but collapsed before she got there and lay on the ground writhing in pain and whimpering. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to push herself up of the ground but failed, the pain was too much. It was unlike anything she had experienced before and she hated it. She curled up tighter and began to cry louder. It was at this point the door opened and in walked Scotty,  
  
"Is everything ok in here?" he called before he saw Allie writhing on the floor. He looked down and saw her looking up at him, a pained expression on her face.  
  
"Oh my god, we have to get a doctor," he cried running over to her. All Allie could mutter in response was,  
  
"The baby." Scotty stared at her in shock for a few seconds; no one knew Shane's fiancé was pregnant. He then ran over to the open door and out into the hallway to call for help. A few seconds later the medics ran in to look at her. They saw how much pain she was in and immediately decided to take her to the doctor. They tried to get her to describe the pain but she was now too weak to talk. She was lifted onto a stretcher and carried of to an ambulance which had arrived. As she was being carried out her arm slipped of the stretcher and hung limply of the edge. He hand was knocked and her engagement ring fell of and hit the floor but no one noticed and it lay there.  
  
Shane finished his set and walked contentedly back to his dressing room, everything was going so well for him. He had a new fiancé, he was expecting a baby and he was enjoying his work life. He thought nothing could take that away from him. He loved Allie so much and didn't know what he would do without her. Now that she was carrying his child he loved her even more and couldn't wait for them to marry, though Allie insisted there was no way she was getting married while pregnant, she wanted her wedding photo's to look good. He walked to the door and saw it was open. He looked in and wondered where Allie had gone. He turned to go check out the hang out room when something caught his eye; he noticed her ring on the floor. He leant down and picked it up. He stared at it for a few moments before running down the hall to find out what was going on.  
  
Jeff and Lily were sitting in a café having a drink and a bite to eat. Jeff had been on first that evening and they had felt the need to get out of there, sometimes the backstage atmosphere was a bit too much.  
  
"Jeff I think we should go away together."  
  
"I think that's a great idea Lily but there are a few factors we have to consider: My job and Alex."  
  
"I was only talking about going for like a week, I could get Allie to pull some strings with Shane and he could give you some time off."  
  
"I suppose so," Jeff said sounding unsure.  
  
"What don't you want to spend a week alone with me?" Lily said pretending to be hurt.  
  
"It's just I've never had time off."  
  
"Well all the more reason to have some now."  
  
"I'll think about it." Lily smiled and leant over and kissed him, she pulled away,  
  
"You do that." As they finished off their bowl of chips in walked Mathew and his girlfriend Casey.  
  
"Hi guys," Mathew said casually as he walked over to them,  
  
"Can we join you?" Lily and Jeff nodded and welcomed them warmly. Casey made sure she was sitting between Jeff and Mathew. The conversation flowed freely as they all got along well, after all Mathew and Lily had been friends for yonks. Though it did disturb Lily a bit that Casey was paying an awful lot of attention to Jeff. Lily listened to Mathew regale them with a humorous story when her cell phone buzzed. She answered it and her face fell.  
  
"I gotta go, Allie's in hospital."  
  
"Why?" Jeff and Mathew both asked at the same time.  
  
"Something about losing the baby."  
  
"Baby?" Jeff said confusedly.  
  
"You know about as much as I do, I never even knew she was pregnant, though it does explain a lot." Lily said while grabbing her stuff.  
  
"I'll call you later," She said pecking Jeff on the cheek and ran out to her car.  
  
Chapter Twenty Five  
  
Shane paced up and down outside Allie's hospital room. He was seriously stressing. The doctors wouldn't allow anyone in the room until they had finished, well, he didn't know what they were doing and that also was stressing him. He was so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he didn't notice Lily walk up behind him, she tapped him on the shoulder and he jumped in reply.  
  
"Any news?" asked Lily. Shane shook his head. Lily nodded meaningfully in reply. Shane began t his pacing again and Lily sat down in one of the chairs. She messaged Mandy on her phone again to tell her the news. She'd already tried calling her several times and gotten no reply. She was wondering what was up with that? Shane walked over and sat down next to her.  
  
"Did you know she was pregnant?" he asked with a serious look on his face. Lily shook her head.  
  
"Well she was, she didn't want to tell anyone until it was past the first trimester and it was all, well, going okay." He choked out the last few words. He turned his head away and put his face in his hands. Lily patted him on the shoulder,  
  
"She'll be okay, she very resilient." Shane smiled woefully at her and played with her wedding ring.  
  
"She loved that ring, I'd never seen her smile so much, and did the doctors make her take it of?"  
  
"No I found it on the floor of my dressing room; I don't know why it was there." Shane stared hard at the ring. At that point Jeff, Adam, Mathew and Casey walked up to see what was going on.  
  
"Have you heard anything?" Jeff asked as he sat down next to Lily. Both Shane and Lily shook their heads. Adam leant against the wall and sighed,  
  
"I hope she's okay, she deserves to be okay, she was a good friend to me when, well, when I needed it."  
  
"She'll be fine guys, let's stop the depressing stuff." Casey said a bit too cheerfully. Shane glared at her and if looks could kill then she would have been dead. "Why don't we go down and get some coffee Hun?" Mathew asked as he pulled Casey away from the crowd.  
  
"I can't stand that girl." Lily exclaimed after they had left.  
  
"I don't know, she seems nice enough," Jeff said in reply. Lily just looked at him, she was about to say something when her phone rang.  
  
"Hello Lily speaking?"  
  
"Hey Lily its Mandy, is Allie okay?"  
  
"We don't know yet, where are you?"  
  
"At the airport, I changed my flight; I'm going home in about an hour."  
  
"I think it's kinda serious with Allie though, I think she'd like you to be here."  
  
"I can't change it again, give her my love, I'll call you when I get back to Australia."  
  
"But Mandy." Mandy had hung up abruptly. Everyone looked at Lily enquiringly.  
  
"That was Mandy, her flight to Australia leaves in an hour."  
  
"She's going back to Australia?" Adam asked sounding shocked.  
  
"Didn't you know?" Adam shook his head.  
  
"Drive safely," Jeff said as he threw Adam his car keys. Adam shot him a grateful look and turned and ran down the hallway. He ran past the doctor who was walking up to the group to give them the news on Allie's condition.  
  
"Mr McMahon?" the doctor said. Shane stood and nodded at him.  
  
"I have some serious news."  
  
"Is Allie ok?" he asked nervously.  
  
"I think you should sit down," was all the doctor said in reply. Lily and Jeff looked at Shane collapse nervously into the chair, gripping Allie's engagement ring as tightly as possible.  
  
Chapter Twenty Six  
  
Allie lay motionless on her bed with tears rolling down her cheeks. All she could think was that she had lost the baby. She didn't care about anything except for the life that had been growing inside her. It was so hard to change her way of thinking, she was now eating for one again. She felt empty, like she was missing some vital part of her. She'd been upset about being pregnant at first but she'd grown to accept it and had actually been looking forward to starting a life and family with the baby and Shane. There was another problem, Shane. He'd wanted the baby some much, how would he react when he found out she'd lost it. Maybe he would no longer want to marry her. The thought horrified her. She closed he eyes tightly and wished it would all go away, she was feeling so miserable. She could hardly wait to see Lily and Mandy so they could get her mind of things. She turned over and curled up as tightly as possible and cried for what she had lost. She barely even registered that the door opened and someone walked in.  
  
"Allie?" Shane asked softly as he sat in the chair next to her bed. He could hear her muffled sobs and didn't have a clue what to say.  
  
"You know I still love you." Allie just continued to sob; she was closing out the world around her. Shane just sat and stared at her, completely helpless. The doctor had said that she might have issues but he hadn't prepared himself to be locked out.  
  
"I LOVE you Allie." Shane stood and walked out of the room. Allie stopped crying a little. She blinked her eyes and wiped the tears away, but other than that lay motionless. She tried to calm herself and succeeded a little. She registered the door opening this time and saw Lily walk in softly. She looked over at the door waiting for Mandy to come in but she didn't. She looked up at Lily and asked,  
  
"Where's Mandy?"  
  
"She's gone back to Australia." Allie's face visibly fell. She mouthed 'oh' and curled back up. Now she felt as though her friends didn't even care about her, her life was falling apart.  
  
Adam jumped out of the car and ran inside the terminal. It took him only a second to register which gate Mandy was at and he raced towards it hoping she hadn't already gone through, her penchant for duty free would put time on his side. His long legs carried him over to the gate where he saw her walking slowly to the point of no return. He yelled out to her,  
  
"Mandy, stop!" She turned around and saw him. At first her face was clouded with a look of confusion but then it changed to joy as she realised why Adam was there. Her eyes lit up and she ran towards him. They embraced and began to kiss passionately. They were making up for all the time they had lost. It was like they had come home after a horrible nightmare. The familiarity of their lips together soothed all problems that were between them. They understood each other and belonged together, they would work through their problems and their relationship would only become stronger. Mandy pulled away and looked at Adam, he was grinning at her and went to say something when she put her finger to his lips and moved in to kiss him again. It was getting a bit embarrassing for passers by as things were getting a bit hot and heavy. This time it was Adam who pulled away and grabbed her hand. He knelt down and produced the familiar box.  
  
"Mandy will you marry me?"  
  
"Yes" Mandy replied simply. She took the ring and placed it on her finger. She was so happy, nothing else in the world mattered to her at this time except that she and Adam were back together where they belonged.  
  
Casey looked at Mathew as he lay next to her in his bed. She was glad that her plan had been put into action. She would get what she wanted and she wouldn't stop at anything. People were merely her steps to her perfect life, and Casey's perfect life meant that she would be married to Jeff Hardy. She wanted to achieve this so much that she would not stop at hurting anyone. She had anted Jeff ever since she had first seen him wrestling in an Indy fed years back and hadn't stopped thinking or dreaming about him since. She loved his body, his recklessness, his niceness, his smell; everything about him was perfect; perfect for Casey. One day she knew there would be a Mr Jeff Nero Hardy and his wife, Mrs Cassidy Hardy.  
  
Chapter Twenty Seven  
  
"You can go home tomorrow Miss Donohugh," the doctor told her nicely. Allie smiled weakly at her. She had barely spoken to anyone since arriving at the hospital, only when absolutely necessary. The only people she spoke to were the nurses, doctor and Lily. Shane came and sat with her everyday, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything. It didn't occur to her how much she was hurting him, and even if it had, she probably wouldn't have cared that much. She wanted to go home, shower, go to bed and never wake up. She was sitting in quietly in her hospital room doing nothing, as per usual, when there was a knock on the door. This struck her as strange as none of the people that visited her knocked. The door opened and in walked Scotty. He smiled at her and sat down in the chair.  
  
"How are you?" he asked her. She nodded to indicate that she was okay.  
  
"Thank you," she replied quietly. Scotty looked at her inquiringly.  
  
"I heard you were the one that found me. Thank you."  
  
"Well I couldn't have left you there could I?" She smiled at him and sighed. "I'm sorry about the baby"  
  
"You're the only one who has mentioned it."  
  
"I'm sorry"  
  
"I'm not, I can't pretend it didn't happen, as much as I would like too."  
  
"Everyone's missing you down at the shows. No one down there teasing everyone and creating havoc." She giggled in reply. Scotty then went on to tell her about some of the more amusing events which had occurred backstage at the shows recently. He made her laugh even more. She didn't notice Shane standing at the door watching. He felt sick, Scotty had made her talk more in five minutes than he had in five days, and he'd made her laugh. He could only watch for a moment when he had to turn away, he had tears running down his cheeks, what had happened, he loved her so much and now she wasn't even giving him a chance. It was like they'd never had anything, they'd never existed.  
  
Lily rang Jeff's doorbell, she'd had a long day and could hardly wait to sit down and relax with Jeff by her side. She turned the handle and the door opened, it was unlocked. She walked into a dark house and saw a solitary candle sitting on the table in the hallway. She was a bit confused and walked over to it to see what was going on. She saw a note on the table which read, "Go to the kitchen". She walked into the kitchen and saw another candle and note. This one read, "Press play and do what it says in the living room". She pressed play on the tape player and a song rang out.  
  
"Knock Three times on the ceiling if you want me,  
  
Twice on the pipes if the answer is no,  
  
Knock Knock Knock means you'll meet me in the hallway  
  
Knock Knock on the pipes means you ain't gonna show."  
  
Lily began to laugh as she walked into the living room and saw a set of pipes leaning against the walls and a ladder erected in the middle of the room. There were rose petals leading up the stairs. She walked over to the ladder and climbed it and banged on the ceiling three times. She then climbed back down and walked up the stairs only to find Jeff standing in the hallway wearing his boxers with a rose between his teeth. Lily smiled and ran over towards him.  
  
"I was just praying that you didn't hit the pipes." Jeff said seriously. Lily grinned at him,  
  
"I would never hit the pipes for you." They both began to laugh and fell into a passionate embrace.  
  
Shane sat in front of the television in his home. He was highly depressed abut the whole Allie situation. He stared at the television not even registering what he was watching; he just didn't understand what she was doing or why she was doing it. He was trying not to think about it and failing miserably. Pete had rung to see if he wanted to go out and if he was okay but he'd politely declined and said he was fine before abruptly ending the phone call. He didn't want to go out, all he wanted to do was be with Allie, but evidently she didn't want that. He hadn't talked to her about the baby because he found it too painful to discuss. He wondered if she still thought about him, if she even still wanted to get married. He stretched out his legs and laid them onto the table in front of him. In the process of doing this he accidentally knocked his address book of the table. He bent over to pick it up and noticed it was open on the page of Marissa's new address; he had it in there for his lawyer. He stared at it for a few moments before picking up the phone and beginning to dial the number before him.  
  
"Hello Marissa McMahon speaking," Shane didn't say anything, not even registering shock at her keeping his name.  
  
"Hello? Hello? Is anybody there?" Shane hung up abruptly, shocked at what he had just done, maybe his and Allie's relationship wasn't as strong as he thought it was.  
  
Chapter Twenty Eight  
  
Lily and Jeff were lying in bed when the phone rang. Jeff groaned, rolled over and picked it up.  
  
"Jeff speaking," he said gruffly, he was not a morning person.  
  
"Hello Jeff," said a cheery voice on the other end of the line,  
  
"It's Casey here. I was just wondering if you and Lily would like to come out for dinner tonight."  
  
"Sure" Jeff said as Lily looked at him inquiringly.  
  
"Well how about me and Mathew meet you at Imation Hall at around 8?"  
  
"Yeah sounds great."  
  
"Ok I'll see you there."  
  
"Bye" Jeff hung up the phone.  
  
"Who was that?" Lily asked.  
  
"Casey."  
  
"What did she want?" Lily asked sourly.  
  
"To ask us to go for dinner tonight."  
  
"I suppose you said yes."  
  
"Why wouldn't I?"  
  
"There's just something about her that's no right, besides I wanted to spend the night with you."  
  
"Well it' a bit late now." Lily pouted at him and he shrugged his shoulders and leaned in and kissed her.  
  
"I have to go now anyway; I'm driving Allie home form the hospital."  
  
"Oh, is she talking to people yet?"  
  
"Well she talks to me but she just pretends Mandy and Shane aren't there. It's a bit worrying and I know it's upsetting both of them. Shane seems to be taking it really hard." Jeff nodded sympathetically. Lily gave him one last kiss and went to get dressed.  
  
Shane arrived at the hospital that morning prepared to drive Allie home and look after her. He walked into the room and found it empty except for a nurse pulling the sheet's of the bed.  
  
"Mr McMahon why are you here?"  
  
"I came to take Allie home."  
  
"She left earlier with Lily and her friends, ah, what was his name; ah yes Scotty, about half an hour ago."  
  
"Right, thanks." Shane walked out of the hospital feeling worse than he had in days. He got in his car and drove straight over to Allie's; he was going to sort this out once and for all. He ran up the steps to the girl's apartment two at a time and knocked forcefully on the door. He could hear laughter coming from inside the room and it quietened as the door opened.  
  
"Oh hi Shane, come on in." Lily said politely stepping away so he could enter. He walked in and saw Allie and Scotty sitting on the couch laughing. Allie silenced as soon as she saw Shane standing in the doorway. She noticed the look on his face and stared at him.  
  
"Allie can I talk to you?" He asked sounding strained. She stood up and walked to her bedroom and shut the door. Shane stared at what had just happened. He didn't know what to do. Scotty stood up,  
  
"I better be going. Bye." He then walked out the door. Shane walked slowly over to the couch and sat down.  
  
"What should I do?" he asked Lily mournfully.  
  
"I honestly don't know," she replied. Shane hunched over and put his face in his hands. He kept remembering all the good times they had had together, what he went through to get her, the little things she did that made him happy and laugh. He knew he couldn't give up. He stood up, walked over to her door and knocked. She didn't reply but he could hear muffled sobs coming from inside. He turned the handle and found that her door wasn't locked. He opened it, walked in and closed it behind him. He stood in front of it watching her.  
  
"Fine then Allie, if you don't want to talk then the least you can do is listen. Do you have any idea how much you've hurt me? I know the loss of the baby is difficult for you but it's difficult for me too. It was my baby as well and you're my fiancé, or so I thought. I always thought that you could talk to me about anything and everything, we were great together. Remember all the good times we had? The picnics, the nights in my office, the hanging out and watching TV. It was all fun and great and I've missed it, I don't know about you but I've missed being around you. Allie I found your ring on the floor of my dressing room, it must have fallen of. I want you to have it back; I want us to get married, to be together." Allie looked up from her bed and stared hard at Shane, he was almost in tears.  
  
"Well maybe that's not what I want anymore" Allie said viciously in reply.  
  
"How dare you come in here and make it sound like everything is my fault. I don't care if you are upset, I don't care if you miss me and I don't care to marry you anymore, in fact Shane, I never want to see you again. I no longer love you and I don't know if I ever did." Shane stared at Allie, he was in shock, he would never believe that she could say such things to him, this was his innocent little Allie, the girl he protected from the word, not the one that made his world come crashing down.  
  
"If that's the way you feel then so be it. I'll have you transferred to a different department so you never have to see me again. In fact I'll go out of my way to make sure you never see me again, if that's what you want."  
  
"It is."  
  
"Goodbye Allie, it was fun while it lasted." His voice cracked as he said last sentence and walked out of the room. He didn't even stop to say goodbye to Lily, he just walked out of the apartment and didn't look back. Lily stared after him as he walked out the door. She could hear Allie sobbing from her bedroom and walked over to the phone to call Jeff, she wouldn't be going to dinner that night, he could go with Casey and Mathew by himself, she had to make sure Allie was okay and find out what was going on. Shane sat in his car staring at the flat from down below. He kept wiping his eyes to keep himself from crying, it was stupid, and she was just a girl. He could get any girl he wanted, a rich good looking guy like him. Unfortunately, he wanted Allie and now she no longer wanted him. He sniffed and pulled away from the curb taking one last look at her bedroom window. The window was high up so he failed to see Allie standing at the window staring at him drive away.  
  
Chapter Twenty Nine  
  
Jeff walked into the reception area of the restaurant and looked around. It was such a nice place and he couldn't see Mathew or Casey anywhere. He sat down to wait and ordered a gin and tonic. He sipped it casually and thought of Lily and how much he wished she was there with him and that it would be just him and her. He shut his eyes and was imagining her face when he felt a kiss on his cheek,  
  
"Lily you decided to come?"  
  
"Silly it's me!" Jeff opened his eyes and saw Casey standing there wearing a dress which covered very little.  
  
"Oh hi," he replied awkwardly looking her up and down.  
  
"Do you like?" she asked coyly. Jeff just nodded even more awkwardly.  
  
"Where's Lily?" Casey asked amicably.  
  
"She had stuff she had to do with Allie."  
  
"Oh dear that's a sorry situation. The poor girl and poor Shane. "  
  
"Where's Mathew?" Jeff asked uncomfortably.  
  
"He had to work, guess it's just you and me!"  
  
"Maybe we should take a raincheck?"  
  
"Oh no not after we made the effort to get all dressed up and come down here. We can take the opportunity to get to know each other better. I'm sure we'd have lots to talk about." After saying this Casey licked her lips, turned around and walked towards the dinner table. Jeff followed her slowly, wondering if he should call Lily and beg her to come and join him. He didn't, however, get a chance as Casey called nim over and began talking and wouldn't stop for the rest of the evening.  
  
Allie lay on her bed staring at the ceiling; she hadn't spoken to anyone since Shane left earlier that evening. She was depressed, she didn't understand why she had said what she did to him, but while she was sad not to be with Shane she felt it was the right thing. She looked over at the door as she saw it open. In walked Mandy. Allie just stared at him blankly.  
  
"Allie I'm sorry, I was so wrapped up in my own problems I didn't notice yours."  
  
"That's okay; I wasn't that understanding towards you. I'm glad you and Adam are back together, you're good together." Mandy ran over and gave her a hug.  
  
"I also have something that's going to make your day."  
  
"Besides being your bridesmaid?"  
  
"I have three tickets and backstage passes to the Westlife concert." Allie screamed in excitement, they were one of her favourite bands.  
  
"For when?" Asked Allie once she had calmed down.  
  
"Tomorrow night, it's going to be a girl's night out for you, me and Lily."  
  
Mandy and Allie hugged tightly and then called Lily in to inform her and for them all to decide what to wear.  
  
Jeff and Casey sat at the table laughing like old friends. She kept reaching over and touching his hand, this was disturbing him a little but he let it slide as Casey just being an affectionate person. Throughout the evening Casey's chair inched closer and closer to his and he didn't notice until it was too late and she was right next to him. She was chuckling at a joke he told, when Jeff noticed she quietened and started to stare into his eyes. Jeff shifted uncomfortably in his chair and avoided eye contact. He was about to say something when Casey leaned in and kissed him. It took him awhile to register what was going, but when he did he pulled away instantly.  
  
"How dare you?" he yelled at her. Everyone in the restraint turned to stare.  
  
"Well you lead me on." Casey whined loudly, as she stood up and stormed out. Jeff just sat there in shock, stuck with the bill.  
  
Chapter Thirty  
  
With Special Guest Stars Westlife!!!  
  
Lily walked out to the letterbox and picked up the mail. She was flicking through it as she walked back to the lat when she came across an envelope with no stamp or address, just her name written across it in black ink. She tore it open and looked at the photo's which wee enclosed. As she realised what they were she dropped them like they were on fire and ran upstairs. As she reached the top of the stairs she looked back down at the landing staring at the offending documents. She slowly walked down again to see if she hadn't imagined what was displayed on them. She picked them up and sat down on the stairs. She slowly turned them over with shaking hands and stared at the one on the top. In black and white in front of her was a picture of Jeff kissing Casey. She looked at the next one and saw them enjoying a cosy dinner together. She felt sick to the stomach. She stood up and walked up the stairs, holding the photo's like they were trash. She entered the apartment and sat down on the sofa to think over the situation. She didn't know what to think. She was upset that he had been kissing Casey, but who had sent her the photos? She felt tears begin to trickle down her cheeks, it had only been the other night that they had discussed living together, and he had been the one to bring the subject up. There was no way she could go out and have a good time that night. She could hear the others giggling and having fun getting ready. She went into Allie's room and feigned a headache and sore stomach, which was partly true. The others murmured their sympathies and were genuinely upset that she was unable to go with them, but they were also highly excited at the prospect of seeing Westlife live. Lily stood at the door and watched them pile excitedly into Adam's car (he had taken her ticket). She shut the door, sat down on the floor and stared in silence at the photo of Jeff with Casey.  
  
Allie and Mandy stood excitedly waiting for Westlife to come offstage and hang with their fans that held backstage passes. Allie was almost screaming with excitement. Adam just stood there with a bemused expression on his face. Allie gasped sharply as the boys began to file in and get drinks. She saw her favourite member of the group, ironically named Shane. She stared at him; he was even cuter in the flesh. Adam noticed her staring and commented,  
  
"It must be something to do with the name Shane." Allie glared at him and stuck out her tongue. Mandy went and stood next to him and wriggled under his arm,  
  
"You know you're better than all of them to me." He smiled at her and planted a big kiss on her lips.  
  
"Geez get a room guys." Allie said exasperatedly, since Mandy and Adam had got back together they had been inseparable and not adverse to public displays of affection, much to the dismay of their companions. She looked over at Shane and saw him shaking hand with some of the fans and signing tings for them. He looked over and saw her staring. She blushed a crimson colour and he grinned back at her. She smiled back and he went back to signing a t-shirt for another girl. Allie excused herself from Mandy and Adam and walked over to get a drink from the table where she met Nicky and complimented him on the performance that evening. He was nice and polite but apologised as he had to go and speak to his manager who was calling him. She stood alone at the table or a second when she heard an Irish voice speak to her,  
  
"Would you mind pouring me a drink?" Allie turned around and saw Shane standing there looking at her intently.  
  
"Sure."  
  
"I'm Shane Filan."  
  
"I know," Allie said nervously.  
  
"And you are?"  
  
"Allie Donohugh, I loved your performance tonight, you guys are great."  
  
"Thank you." Allie smiled at him and he warmly returned the gesture.  
  
"Your accent's not from around here."  
  
"No I'm from Australia, I just moved here recently."  
  
"Did you see us when we toured Australia?"  
  
"No I was unable to get tickets, unfortunately, I was really bummed."  
  
"So what do you do?"  
  
"I work a secretary with the World Wrestling Federation."  
  
"I love wrestling, I don't get to keep up with it much cause we're travelling so much, but I used to love it when I was younger."  
  
"Well over there is my friend Mandy and her fiancé Adam, better known as Edge."  
  
"You're not serious?" Shane said in his Irish lilt while twisting around to see. He saw two blonde people in the corner pashing,  
  
"I guess they only recently got engaged," he said laughing.  
  
"It's a long story," Allie said laughing herself and flicking her hair around, she hadn't flirted in a long time and was glad she could still do it.  
  
"Maybe we could get together and have dinner and you could tell me sometime?"  
  
"I'd like that, I really would."  
  
"I'm glad." He was about to say something else when he noticed his manager signalling him,  
  
"I have to go; can I have your number?"  
  
"Here's my card." Allie said giving him her work card,  
  
"You can call me at work. If I'm not in just leave a message." She smiled coyly at him and he grinned back once again. He waved as he walked away and looked over his shoulder and winked.  
  
  
  
Chapter Thirty One  
  
Lily sat on the couch listening to the third message Jeff had left on the answering machine that evening.  
  
"It's me again, Jeff, calling for Lily. I was just wondering if you're okay because you aren't answering your cell and we were meant to hook up. Give me a buzz. Love you." Lily threw the television remote at the machine and burst into tears. She hugged her knees and wept loudly and hysterically until she heard the door open. Allie walked and stared at her.  
  
"What's wrong?" She asked running over to her friend.  
  
"It's Jeff," Lily said between sobs, "He and Casey were at dinner and and and and and," all she could do was point at the photo's as she started crying even harder. Allie picked them up and stared in shock at Jeff and Casey. She didn't know what to say. She just hugged Lily and told her to cry as much as she wanted. As she was consoling her there was a knock on the door. Allie yelled out that it was open and in walked Jeff. Lily looked at him with pure hatred in her eyes.  
  
"Get out of my house," She said shakily.  
  
"What?" Jeff asked sounding confused.  
  
"I can't believe you did that too me, you lying scumbag." She stood up and threw the photos at him. He picked them up and stared at them.  
  
"How did you get these?"  
  
"What does it matter how I got them?"  
  
"You've been spying on me!"  
  
"You've been cheating on me."  
  
"It's not what it looks like."  
  
"That's what they all say, go and be with your fucking floozy!" cried Lily as she stormed of to her bedroom.  
  
"I think you'd better leave." Allie said sternly. Jeff just stared at the photo once more and walked out of the apartment.  
  
The next day Allie was backstage at the Raw taping talking to Scotty.  
  
"And then he asked me out, she said with a cheerful smile on her face.  
  
"You got asked out by Shane Filan from Westlife?" Scotty yelled in reply. Allie nodded excitedly.  
  
"He called me at work today and we are going out after the show tonight."  
  
"That's so cool" Scott exclaimed. As they continued to discuss exactly how cool it was they failed to notice that Shane (McMahon) had overheard the entire conversation. He stood forlornly over the other side of the room when he was approached by Stacey Kiebler.  
  
"Your missing her aren't you? Break up's can be so difficult." She said conspiratorially.  
  
"Yeah," was all Shane said in reply.  
  
"Why don't we go out for a drink tonight to cheer you up, I know the best restraint." Shane nodded his head and said he'd meet her after the last segment. Stacey smiled at him and walked off, emphasising her long legs by walking funny. Shane watched her walk of and smiled weakly, he kind of had a date with the hottest girl in the federation, that'd always make a guy happy.  
  
Allie and Shane (Filan) sat at the dinner table laughing and making small talk, they were getting along so well. His accent had her absolutely enchanted and he loved the way she chewed her lip when she got excited. They were having an intense discussion about the difficulties of living far away from home when Allie spotted something that made her heart skip a beat. She saw Shane walk in with Stacey and they looked pretty cosy. She kept telling herself that it didn't matter, but she felt hurt. Sure she was dating again but he was meant to be distraught, how could he get over her so easily? And he chose Stacey, the easiest girl in the whole federation.  
  
"Allie? Anyone home?" asked Shane (F) trying to get her attention back.  
  
"Sorry, I was of in my own little world, what were you saying?" She was looking over at Shane when Stacey spotted her, she pointed Allie out to Shane and said they had better go over and say hello. She nodded awkwardly at the suggestion. They both walked over and smiled at Allie and Shane.  
  
"Allie what a surprise to see you here," Stacey said warmly and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Allie smiled back falsely.  
  
"Allie," Shane (M) nodded sternly at her. She nodded back feeling highly uncomfortable.  
  
"Well are you going to introduce me Allie?" asked Shane (F).  
  
"This is Stacey Kiebler, a co-worker and Shane McMahon my former b. boss." She finished awkwardly. Shane (F) shook there hands and smiled saying hello. Shane (M) then excused himself and Stacey saying that they should get started on their meal. Allie breathed a sigh of relief after they left.  
  
"So how long ago did you break up with him?" asked Shane intuitively. Allie just smiled and said,  
  
"It doesn't matter." Shane (M) sat at his table with Stacey and spent the whole evening watching Shane and Allie jealously, he still loved even if she had spurned him.  
  
Chapter 32- The Wedding  
  
Two Months Later  
  
Jeff and Lily hadn't talked since that fateful evening and Allie and Shane (F) were almost inseparable.  
  
"You may now kiss the bride." Mandy and Adam looked at each other and moved in for their first kiss as a married couple. Allie whispered quietly to Lily,  
  
"Get a room." This subsequently caused their bouquets to start to shake due to the laughter it caused. Mandy pulled away from Adam and glared at the two of them as they began to walk down the aisle. Lily was first and was joined by Andrew Martin and Allie followed and was joined by Jeff, who kept staring at Lily for the whole service. Allie was dreading the next part of the afternoon, they were going to go and have photo's taken before the reception and this required Jeff and Lily being in the same car. It was going to be very awkward. Mandy and Adam got into their own car and drove of in front of the others. Lily climbed into the car first and Allie quickly pushed Jeff in after her. Lily glared at Allie; if looks could kill she would be dead. Allie then climbed in and was followed by Andrew; it was a really big car. They rode in silence with Allie and Andrew occasionally making small talk. Jeff just kept staring at Lily, while Lily tried to stare out the window, though the familiar smell of Jeff kept making her sneak small glances at him, he looked really good in a tuxedo. She could feel him looking at her and it while it was making her uncomfortable; it also made her feel pleased. She went to take a look at him and turned her head only to find him staring back at her. They stared into each others eyes for a few seconds when she looked away suddenly. She stared out the window wondering about what had just transpired. He was thinking about all the good times they used to have when she felt Jeff's hand on her knee. She just stiffened and sat there, not knowing what to do. Her mind was racing; maybe they could forgive each other and be together like they were always mean to. She turned and looked at him; he stared back at her intently. The tension in the car was building, it was uncomfortable for everyone. Jeff and Lily were still staring at each other as the car pulled up at the park where the pictures were being taken. Neither of them noticed and Allie motioned to Andrew not to tell them as they climbed out of the car. Lily didn't know what to do or say to Jeff and he was just as unsure as her. It was all too much for Lily, she wanted Jeff back and didn't care if he had kissed Casey because she knew deep down that he loved her and she did the only thing she could think of, she began to cry. Jeff moved forward and hugged her tightly and whispered in her ear,  
  
"I'm sorry, sorry that we that we wasted these two months being apart, I love you Lily." This just made Lily cry even more at how sweet and nice he was, she breathed in his smell and felt slightly calmer about the whole situation. She pulled back slightly and mouthed 'I love you' back at him and they were about to kiss when there was a knock on Lily's side of the car. Lily pulled away and opened the door, standing outside was Mandy looking slightly annoyed,  
  
"We have pictures to take and I hope you have some spare mascara, because yours is now all over your cheeks." Lily blushed and got out of the car where the wedding party was staring at them. Allie ran over and handed her a compact, mirror and some mascara so she could fix her make up. Jeff straightened his suit and the photo session began.  
  
The reception itself was being highly successful with everyone enjoying themselves, except for Shane (M). He kept staring at Allie dancing with Shane (F). He kept wishing Allie had been his date and not Stacey, who was nice and everything but she just wasn't the same. He sighed and stared at his piece of cake when he heard Allie's voice,  
  
"I love you Shane," he jerked his head up thinking he was talking to her, but saw that she was standing with the other Shane. He went back to his cake and felt terrible. Allie saw him sitting there and felt sorry for him being all alone but there was nothing she could do. She excused herself from the dance floor; Shane didn't want to let her go, to go to the toilet and headed up the hallway. She reapplied her make up and smoothed down her dress and did all sorts of girly things while in the bathroom when the door opened.  
  
"Oh I'm sorry Allie," Shane (M) said politely.  
  
"That's cool I'm almost finished anyway." Allie said smiling at him,  
  
"How's Stacey?" She asked politely.  
  
"Good and Shane?"  
  
"He's great"  
  
"That's good." Allie was reapplying her eyeliner when she dropped it on the floor. They both leant down to pick it up when they bumped heads. Allie laughed nervously and Shane grabbed her face and kissed her. Thoughts began to run through Allie's head, she shouldn't be doing this; she didn't want a torrid love affair. She knew she should pull away, but just like all those months ago with the Marissa she couldn't. They slowly stood up and fell against the door closing it and locking it shut. They were kissing passionately against the door when Allie pulled away,  
  
"You bastard." She cried. Shane looked at her guiltily.  
  
"We're not together anymore; you had no right to do that."  
  
"It's not like you pushed me away."  
  
"That's not the point, I love Shane." Shane looked at her pointedly,  
  
"Not you, the other Shane."  
  
"I just got caught up in the moment, I know you hate me, you've made that perfectly clear to me on many occasions in the past." Allie's face softened,  
  
"Oh Shane I don't hate, I just don't think a relationship between us would work, it's too intense, too much history."  
  
"So you want a no strings attached one night stand?"  
  
"No, it's different with Shane, the other Shane, it's relaxed and calming as opposed to . to. oh I don't know, it's just different. Why am I explaining this to you anyway?"  
  
"Because you still have feelings for me." Allie stared at him, she didn't know what to say until she realised he was right; she hadn't pulled away from the kiss because she did. Allie went to say something else when there was a knock on the door,  
  
"Allie are you okay?" came Shane's Irish accent from the other side of the door.  
  
"Shit" Allie swore softly,  
  
"It's Shane, if he catches me in here with you, shit."  
  
"Allie?"  
  
"Yeah I'm fine, just putting on my make up, you know how long that takes me."  
  
"Well I just wanted to tell you I'm going to make a phone call."  
  
"Okay I'll see you back on the dance floor." Allie kept swearing under her breath, she waited until she heard Shane's footsteps disappear when she turned the door handle, it wouldn't open the door.  
  
"It won't open," she said to Shane nervously.  
  
"Let me try." Shane walked over and tried opening it but also failed.  
  
"I think it's stuck" he said slowly. Allie's face fell and she sat down on the edge of the bath.  
  
"What are we going to do?" She asked hysterically.  
  
"Wait till someone comes and get them to try from the other side?"  
  
"They can't see me in here with you" Shane reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.  
  
"Who do you want to call?" he asked, handing her the phone.  
  
"I'll ring Lily." She dialled the number and waited for her to pick up while urging her to hurry up.  
  
"Hello?" Jeff's voice said.  
  
"Oh Jeff, hi its Allie can I talk to Lily, it's really important."  
  
"Sure" Allie was wondering what Jeff was doing with Lily's phone, obviously after the ca incident they had got back together.  
  
"Al, I'm the middle of something here, can you be quick?"  
  
"I'm locked in the bathroom with Shane."  
  
"Isn't that a good thing?"  
  
"Shane McMahon"  
  
"How the hell did he get in there with you? You're not cheating on Shane are you?"  
  
"No, can you just get me out and then I'll tell you?"  
  
"Okay but you're going to pay because Jeff and I were having the best make-up."  
  
"Tell me later, I don't need to hear about your sexacapdes right now."  
  
"Your loss, could have given you some great ideas"  
  
"Just hurry up!" Allie said exasperatedly as she hung up the phone. Shane smiled at her and sat down next to her, Allie moved up along the edge of the bath to put more space between them. He looked at her and said,  
  
"All these months I've been thinking about how to tell you that I still loved you, but couldn't think of a way. I guess I'm telling you now then."  
  
"Shane, I'm with Shane. He's asked me to go to England with him on Saturday to tour with him and the band." Shane felt like he'd been hit with a brick to the head. Even when he hadn't been with Allie she'd been around.  
  
"You're not going?"  
  
"I haven't decided yet but I was probably going too." Shane kept moving his mouth as if he was going to say something but nothing came out, he was stunned. Finally he came round,  
  
"I want you to know how I feel, and that I still love you, if you stay here I want our relationship to work, it's your decision, I think we can make it work." Allie stared at him and looked as though she was about to cry. She went to say something when they heard the door opening,  
  
"Oh Lily." Allie stopped when she saw Shane standing there, looking upset at finding her there with Shane.  
  
Back at the receptions Adam was standing up on the podium staring at Mandy and asking for the crowd's attention,  
  
"I have a little something I would like to dedicate to my wife, Mrs Mandy Copeland." He cleared his throat and counted into the band and began to sing,  
  
There she was just a-walking down the street  
  
Singing do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do  
  
Snapping her fingers and shuffling her feet  
  
Singing do wah diddy...  
  
She looked good, looked good  
  
She looked fine, looked fine  
  
She looked good, she looked fine  
  
And I nearly lost my mind  
  
Before I knew it she was walking next to me / Singing...  
  
Holdin' my hand just as natural as can be / Singing...  
  
We walked on, walked on  
  
To my door, my door  
  
We walked on to my door  
  
Then we kissed a little more  
  
{Refrain}  
  
Wo-o-o-oh, I knew we was falling in love  
  
Yes I did, and so I told her all the things  
  
I'd been dreaming of  
  
Now we're together nearly every single day / Singing...  
  
We're so happy and that how we're gonna stay / Singing...  
  
Well I'm hers, I'm hers  
  
She's mine, she's mine  
  
I'm hers, she's mine  
  
Wedding bells are gonna chime  
  
{Refrain}  
  
Now we're together nearly every single day / Singing...  
  
We're so happy and that's how we're gonna stay / Singing...  
  
Well I'm hers, I'm hers  
  
She's mine, she's mine  
  
I'm hers, she's mine  
  
Wedding bells are gonna chime  
  
Wo-o-o-o-o-o, oh yeah  
  
Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do  
  
Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do  
  
Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do  
  
  
  
As he finished Mandy ran up and hugged him and kissed. She was so glad hey were finally married, she was going to be so happy. She didn't see the person at the door holding a plate of profiteroles and muttering from under his disguise,  
  
"I'll have you back one day."  
  
Chapter Thirty Three  
  
Shane stared at Allie in shock. He felt hurt, they had only known each other for a little bit but he felt so connected to her and so in love. He just stared waiting for her to explain.  
  
"It's not what it looks like, I was in the bathroom putting on make up and Shane walked in and I dropped my eyeliner and he bent over to pick it up and knocked the door shut and it locked. Shane looked at her sceptically,  
  
"I have stuff to say about this but first there was something I was going to do for Mandy, so I'll have to get back to you, though you might want to come and listen too." Allie watched him walk off and followed quickly.  
  
"Shane why don't you believe me?"  
  
"I do believe you. If you are telling the truth and if you love me I will see you at the airport on Sunday, if not don't come." He sped up and walked up to the podium and held the microphone.  
  
"I have a gift for Mandy and Adam, more Mandy I suppose. I know she loves the boys so we're going to sing you a song and it's dedicated to you Mandy and Adam." He signalled and the other members of Westlife walked onto the stage. They set up and began to three of their songs, beginning with 'I Lay My Love On You', followed by 'Every Little Thing You Do' and ending with, 'Fragile Heart.' Through each song Mandy and Adam danced closely and there was no one in their world except them. Every word Shane sang, he sang to Allie. She stood there watching, with tears in her eyes. It was time to make the hardest decision of her life. It should be easy, she should know instantly that she wanted to go with Shane to England, but something was stopping her and that something was the tension she shared with Shane McMahon and the love she felt when they kissed before, she couldn't forget it. They finished singing and everyone clapped and cried encore. They smiled and began to sing 'Angel Wings'. Shane sang from his heart and stared at Allie,  
  
"I would die for you  
  
Lay down my life for you  
  
The only thing that means everything to me  
  
'Cause when you're in my arms  
  
You make me prouder than  
  
Than anything I ever could achieve  
  
And you make everything that used to seem so big  
  
Seem to be so small since you arrived"  
  
The tears began to roll down her cheeks, she knew her decision was already made and this upset her. She turned away from Shane's piercing eyes and walked out the door. She walked and sat down on the front steps where she could still hear the music and Shane's voice floating through the air.  
  
"On angel's winds, an angelical formation  
  
Angel's wings, like letters in the sky  
  
Now I know no matter what the question  
  
Love is the answer  
  
It's written on angel's wings"  
  
She began to weep openly for what she was going to lose through her decision. A guy that loved her with all his heart and she was throwing it away for something that felt slightly more right. He was so devoted to her and was lovely and it saddened her to think she was going to do this to him.  
  
"And I often wonder why,  
  
Someone as flawed as I  
  
Deserves to be as happy as you make me  
  
So as the years roll by  
  
I'll be there by your side  
  
I'll follow you wherever your heart takes me  
  
Cause you make everything that used to be so big  
  
Seem to be so small since you arrived"  
  
He wasn't flawed; she was, for not loving him when she should. Her heart was heavy with her decision, though she knew it was the right one. She hoped it worth everything she was giving up and all that she would miss. Somehow, deep down, she knew it would be. Just to see his eyes every morning, to feel his lips on hers, to hear his laughter, to see him dance like an idiot, to feel him love her like he promised so many times in the past.  
  
"Now anyone whose felt the touch of heaven in their lives  
  
Will know the way I'm feeling, looking  
  
In my baby's eyes  
  
That's why I can't bear to be too far away  
  
I know that god must love me because  
  
He sent you to me on angel's wings"  
  
It was her that got herself into this situation, she understood this completely. If she hadn't have hurt him then she wouldn't have to hurt a man who loved her more than life itself. That loved her and trusted her wholeheartedly. She couldn't lie to him, he didn't deserve it, she was lucky to know him and to have been with him briefly and let him touch her life, he had made her love life after the miscarriage, he'd made her realise their was a point. This was how she was going to repay him, by leaving him for another man who'd loved since laying eyes on her for the first in his life, it had been true love at first sight and they had gotten over many obstacles to get where they were. These men shared much more then their names but were also very different and in the end the answer lay in the words of the song that she could hear, "Love is the answer, it's written on Angel's wings."  
  
Chapter Thirty Four  
  
Lily and Jeff stood on the dance floor in each others arms moving to the music of Westlife and looking lovingly at each other. As the music stopped they saw Shane (F) run of the stage and out the door.  
  
"Look's like everyone has a song except us." Jeff murmured in her ear.  
  
"We have knock three times."  
  
"Not very romantic is it?"  
  
"Well it's better than achey breaky heart."  
  
"I think we might have to do something about it." They went back to dancing silently, happy to once again be in each others company.  
  
Allie was still sitting on the steps when Shane (f) found her. He sat down next to her and began to speak,  
  
"Allie I."  
  
"Shane don't say anything. I can't go with you to England. I'm sorry, more sorry than you'll ever know. I'm going to miss you so much and I hope that one day we can be friends, but I have to stay here and work out this mess with Shane, I have to resolve my past before I can move onto my future. I hope you understand this and don't hate me for it, though I understand completely if you do."  
  
"Allie, I'm not going to say it doesn't hurt, because it does. Though I do understand and wish you the best of luck. Call me if you ever come to the UK and we should get together. I'm going to miss you." With that Shane stood up and left. Allie sat there not knowing what to do. She was feeling very tired and emotional and slightly ill. She rested her head in her hands and shut her eyes.  
  
As she was sitting there she felt someone come and sit down next to her. They took her in their arms and cradled her until she began to cry. He rocked her back and forth and held her until she opened her eyes and saw Shane McMahon holding her lovingly.  
  
Mandy was upstairs getting changed and ready to go to the hotel where they were spending the night before flying to Bali. She was pulling on her shoes when someone opened the door and walked in,  
  
"Don't scream, I don't want to hurt you."  
  
"Matt" Mandy gasped.  
  
"I just wanted to wish you the best of luck, please don't tell anyone I was here." He then turned and scurried out the door. Mandy just stared after him, not knowing what to do. She was still sitting there when Adam walked in five minutes later,  
  
"Ready to go Mrs Copeland?"  
  
"Adam I." She stopped herself from telling him about Matt, though she wasn't sure why.  
  
"Yes sweetie?" he asked.  
  
"Nothing," Mandy replied shaking her head. He kissed her and grabbed there bags,  
  
"Honey moon here we come!" he said as they walked down the stairs.  
  
Chapter Thirty Five  
  
Allie was sitting on the couch in Shane's living room, trying to take her shoes of, though it required quite a bit of effort.  
  
"Let me do that for you," Shane said pleasantly. Allie smiled wearily.  
  
"I'm just so tired, it's been a long day. I can't believe Adam and Mandy are married, it's just so strange."  
  
"But they are a good couple," Shane replied sitting down next to her and handing her both shoes. She took them and put them down beside her.  
  
"Have I told you how nice you look all dressed up like that?" Shane asked her.  
  
"No." Allie replied biting her lip.  
  
"Well you do, that colour and style really suits you."  
  
"Thank you, maybe I should employ you as my personal stylist."  
  
"Perhaps, if it meant I got to spend more time with you." Allie grinned at his reply; she was feeling a bit apprehensive as to where this was going to lead but was also excited and happy. She'd calmed down from earlier in the evening, which was a good thing. They sat there in silence watching the television, it was re-runs of Dawson's Creek and Allie commented how much she had loved the show when it had first been on television but how it had gone down with each new season.  
  
"Do you ever feel our lives are like a soap opera?" Shane asked.  
  
"All the time." Allie replied ferverently. They both looked at each other; they had a comfortable friendship that had not disappeared despite all that had happened.  
  
"Though if this was a soap opera we'd be finding out about now that we were brother and sister or something." Allie commented.  
  
"Well actually." Allie hit Shane playfully and stretched her legs out over his lap. He began to rub her leg as they watched Joey and Dawson verbally assault each other.  
  
"I like the re-decoration you have done." Allie said commenting on Shane having re-done the kitchen.  
  
"Yeah I needed a change."  
  
"The blue is a lot better, much more calming."  
  
"You and I both know you didn't come here to discuss my interior decorating skills."  
  
"Why did I come here then Shane?" Allie asked in mock seriousness.  
  
"Well."  
  
"I mean it certainly wasn't for the conversation or, god forbid, the company." Allie was trying to maintain a straight face and Shane was pouting and making puppy dog eyes at Allie. Suddenly Shane stood up,  
  
"Would you like a drink?"  
  
"Okay." Allie said sounding a bit perturbed as Shane had been a bit abrupt. Allie sat up straight and began looking through the magazines on the table. They were mainly wrestling magazines and racing magazines with the occasional tabloid trash thrown in for good measure. She was picking up the latest issue of Raw magazine when a piece of paper fell out. She picked it up and saw written on it in Shane's handwriting, 'Marissa- 95192234. Tuesday 5:40." Allie just stared at the piece of paper not knowing what to make of it. Was Shane talking to Marissa again? Did he want her back? Had Marissa forgiven him? Her mind filled with questions that only one person could answer, the one person she didn't want to ask. Shane came back from the kitchen and she quickly shoved the piece of paper in her pocket and put down the magazine. He handed her a glass of red wine and she thanked him. He sat down next to her with a serious look on his face.  
  
"Allie I have something to give you." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring box. Allie's face looked rather scared and sceptical.  
  
"Don't worry I'm not proposing, I don't think we're ready for that yet." Allie looked very relieved at the last comment.  
  
"I just wanted you to have this, it was yours and you can wear it as a normal ring if you want." He handed her the box which contained her old engagement ring. She took the ring out and fingered it, staring at it and reading the inscription, which said simply, 'With Love'.  
  
"You kept it all this time?"  
  
"I never gave up hope Allie."  
  
"Even after I was so cruel to you?"  
  
"Well there was a little while then, but every time I saw you I knew we had to be together. I had such a difficult time without you."  
  
"How can you forgive me after the way I treated you? I must've hurt you so much."  
  
"Love can do strange things."  
  
"You still love me?"  
  
"Yes I do." Allie had tears of joy in her eyes. Everything felt right again, though in the back of her mind there was the niggling thought of the Marissa note. She stared at Shane and saw the honesty being portrayed in his eyes and the way he had just bared his soul to her, only true love could make that happen. Allie placed the ring on her finger, not the wedding ring finger though, it wasn't time for that yet. She hugged Shane wishing that she would never have to let go. Shane then whispered in her ear,  
  
"I redecorated the bedroom too."  
  
"You dirty dirty man." Allie cried mockingly,  
  
"I'll race you Shane O."  
  
  
  
Jeff walked out of the bathroom with his towel tied around his waist. He sat down on his bed next to Lily and began to fiddle with his cd player.  
  
"What are you doing?"  
  
"Trying to play you a song."  
  
"You chose a song?"  
  
"Well it does have a kind of significance."  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"Well you know what we did on our first official date."  
  
"Ice Skating?"  
  
"Okay our second one."  
  
"We took Alex to the movies."  
  
"What did we see?"  
  
"Moulin Rouge"  
  
"Well." Jeff pressed play and let the song begin.  
  
My gift is my song  
  
And this one's for you  
  
And you can tell everybody  
  
That this is your song  
  
It maybe quite simple  
  
But now that it's done  
  
Hope you don't mind  
  
I hope you don't mind  
  
That I put down in words  
  
How wonderful life is now you're in the world  
  
Sat on the roof  
  
And I kicked off the moss  
  
Well some of the verses well  
  
They got me quite cross  
  
But the sun's been kind  
  
While I wrote this song  
  
It's for people like you that  
  
Keep it turned on  
  
So excuse me for forgetting  
  
But these things I do  
  
You see I've forgotten  
  
If they're green or they're blue  
  
Anyway the thing is what I really mean  
  
Yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen  
  
And you can tell everybody  
  
This is your song  
  
It may be quite simple  
  
But now that it's done  
  
I hope you don't mind  
  
I hope you don't mind that I put down in words  
  
How wonderful life is now you're in the world  
  
I hope you don't mind  
  
I hope you don't mind that I put down in words  
  
How wonderful life is now you're in the world  
  
Lily smiled broadly as the first strains began to ring out and hugged Jeff tightly.  
  
"It's a perfect choice. though there is one thing,"  
  
"What?" Jeff asked sounding worried.  
  
"I think you'd sing it better than Ewan." Jeff grinned at her and took her in his arms and began to sing it too her softly and sweetly. Lily felt like she was in heaven. Everything was going right, finally, or so she thought.  
  
Casey sat in her car outside Jeff's house thinking about her plan of action. She was highly annoyed that he was back with that little hussy. Her kiss had achieved the desired affect for awhile but now she needed a new plan.  
  
"So you want to help me?" She asked the person sitting in the seat next to her.  
  
"Yes I do, as long as I get what I want."  
  
"You will."  
  
"Good"  
  
"Well we need a plan of action, we've obviously both failed in the past so we need something full proof."  
  
"I think I have an idea. We need to look for common links, between the two of them."  
  
"Well I think that's obvious."  
  
"The three friends"  
  
"Precisely"  
  
"We need to work that to our advantage somehow. Though I don't want to hurt her."  
  
"I don't mind hurting Lily, but if anyone touches Jeff they will die a slow horrible death."  
  
"I think this will be an excellent partnership."  
  
"So do I"  
  
"So you want to go and have sex, you know, to pass the time?"  
  
"Sure Matt." Casey started up the car and drove away, trying to plot the next move in her head.  
  
Chapter Thirty Six  
  
(Two week's later, Adam and Mandy have returned from their honeymoon after having lots of. fun.)  
  
Shane was sitting at his kitchen table reading the morning paper when the phone rang. He picked it up and said,  
  
"Hello Shane McMahon speaking."  
  
"Hey Shane it's Chris Jericho here."  
  
"What's up Chris?"  
  
"I was wondering if you'd like to come out for some birthday drinks with me and some of the gang tonight."  
  
"Sure I'd love too. Can I bring Allie?"  
  
"Of course"  
  
"We'll see you there then."  
  
"8 o'clock"  
  
"Okay, check you later."  
  
"Bye." Allie walked into the kitchen and looked at Shane questioningly.  
  
"We're going to Jericho's birthday drinks tonight, at 8."  
  
"But I wanted you to myself"  
  
"Greedy girl, though I wouldn't have minded, we'll just have to make up for it now."  
  
"I'm up for that" Shane jumped out of his seat and grabbed Allie who began to run away from him and failed miserably. They both ended up on the floor giggling hysterically.  
  
Adam called out to Mandy from the bathroom,  
  
"Come on wifey, we have to be there in fifteen minutes."  
  
"All right, just ding my hair."  
  
"Do you want me to do it for you?"  
  
"If you come anywhere near me we may not make it at all because I won't be able to keep my hands of you." Adam grinned in response and sat down on the couch to wait. It would be there first time seeing everyone since returning two days ago. They had such a wonderful time while away and it was the perfect start to their marriage. Both were so happy to finally be together, forever. Adam shut his eyes and was remembering one of the many memorable moments from the past two weeks when the doorbell rang. He jumped up and went to answer it. He opened the door and standing on the doorstep was Lily and Jeff.  
  
"Hey guys." Adam said as he hugged them both.  
  
"How are you? Did you both have a good time?" Lily asked cheerfully.  
  
"I'm sure they did." Jeff said while winking and nudging Adam. Lily rolled her eyes at him and continued,  
  
"We thought we'd come and give you a lift, if you want one that is."  
  
"That'd be great, though Mandy isn't ready yet so come on in."  
  
"So this is the new pad?" Jeff said.  
  
"Yeah, it's really nice, very comfortable and homey."  
  
"I love the colour scheme." Lily said as she fingered the flowers sitting on the occasional table.  
  
"Is that you Lily?" yelled Mandy from the bathroom.  
  
"Yeah, where are you?"  
  
"Down the hall and third door on the right." Lily ran of to talk to Mandy.  
  
"We'll be here for awhile then." Jeff commented.  
  
"Sit down and have a drink with me." They walked over to the living area and Adam poured and handed Jeff a drink as he sat down.  
  
"So what's been happening round here?" Adam asked.  
  
"What do you want to know?"  
  
"How'd Allie and Shane? Have you heard from her in England?"  
  
"You mean you don't know?"  
  
"She didn't go?"  
  
"She stayed here and got back with Shane O Mac."  
  
"You're kidding?"  
  
"According to Lily, she hasn't been back to the apartment for about five days, though that does leave it for me and Lily."  
  
"I see you two are as happy as you always were."  
  
"Yeah we worked all the crap out."  
  
"That's good, you should marry her."  
  
"Not yet I don't think."  
  
"To each his own."  
  
"Do you think the girls are ready yet?"  
  
"We'll probably be here for about another hour or so, now that they are talking Mandy will have stopped doing her hair and we'll be here forever."  
  
Chapter Thirty Seven  
  
Allie and Shane were sitting at the bar when Lily, Mandy, Jeff and Adam walked in. Allie jumped up and ran over and hugged Mandy immediately asking her all about her recent holiday and filling her in on the latest gossip. The gang all went over to a booth to wait for Jericho and the other guests. Mathew walked in and came over and joined them, as did Laurie, who was good friends with Jericho, which was in fact how she and Jeff had met in the first place. Jericho arrived soon after and there was lots of laughter and drinking. Allie was having a wonderful time with all her friends, but excused herself to go to the bathroom as her bladder called. She walked through the club and bumped into a man. She apologised and kept walking when suddenly she stopped and turned and looked behind her. She could have sworn the guy she just bumped into was Matt Hardy. She scanned the club but failed to see anyone looking like him, she put it down to her overactive imagination and the four cocktails she had drunk so far that evening. She went to the bathroom and headed back to the table and sat down.  
  
"Are you okay?" Shane whispered to her, "You look a little spooked."  
  
"I'm fine." Allie assured him patting his knee. He smiled at her and kissed her cheek.  
  
"Do you want to dance?" he asked.  
  
"Sure, you know me, can't keep me away from the dance floor." The two of them hopped up and headed for the floor. They were soon followed by Lily, Jeff, Adam and Mandy. Mathew asked Laurie if she would like to dance and she also accepted. Jericho decided to come along too, even though he didn't have a partner. Everyone began to bogey on the dance floor and was having a whole lot of fun. They were forgetting all their worries and letting loose, which made a change for a lot of them. The music changed and a slow song started playing. Allie and Shane danced closely occasionally whispering sweet nothings in each others ears as did the others. Mandy and Adam were enjoying themselves when a voice asked them,  
  
"Mind if I cut in?" They both looked up and saw Matt standing there. Mandy gasped and Adam had a murderous look on his face. At that exact same point in time Casey had gone up to Lily and Jeff and asked the same question. Jeff and Lily looked like they were both about to kill Casey. Adam went to say something when Matt stopped him.  
  
"I wouldn't. You're expendable. Consider this before you answer." With that he produced a hand held gun, the shiny metallic barrel pointing straight at Adam. Everyone in the club turned to look once Mandy screamed. Casey also produced a gun and pointed it at Lily. Matt then spoke loudly, addressing everyone in the room.  
  
"I want you all to leave, except for Adam, Mandy, Lily, Jeff and Allie." Everyone just stood and stared.  
  
"He means now." Shrieked Casey wildly waving her gun around. Everyone moved for the exit except for Shane.  
  
"I'm not going without Allie."  
  
"Stay then if you want too," Matt said calmly, "We've got a bit of a surprise for you too." Allie grabbed Shane and whispered to him,  
  
"Go", but Shane just shook his head and took her hand in his. By this time the room was empty except for the eight of them.  
  
"Lily and Mandy, I think you know the drill," Matt said,  
  
"Go sit over there and Adam and Jeff, over the other side." Once again none of them moved.  
  
"Now," Screeched Casey, causing Jeff and Adam to tell their girls to do what they were saying and they separated and stood on opposite sides of the room.  
  
"Now Allie and Shane, we have a surprise guest for the two of you." Matt said motioning to the door. Casey walked up to the door and with game show host reflexes opened the door and said,  
  
"The former Mrs McMahon, come on down." Marissa stepped through the door wearing her wedding dress and brandishing her own gun.  
  
"Marissa," Shane gasped, "Not you too."  
  
"How could I pass up the chance to, shall we say, deal, with my past husbands, let me think of the word, oh that's an easy one, Whore." She smiled evilly at Allie. Allie glared at her and was about to say something she would probably regret when Shane stepped on her foot and muttered at her to calm down.  
  
"Why don't you go and join you're friends, Allie." Shane said as he walked over to Adam and Jeff. Mandy was crying hysterically and had had enough,  
  
"Why are you doing this? What have we done to you? We were your friends!"  
  
"There is a very simple answer to that Mandy my dear."  
  
Chapter Thirty Eight  
  
While Matt was declaring his love and hate for Mandy in a long self- indulgent paragraph, the guys were trying to work out a plan to get them out of the volatile situation of which they were in. Jeff was feeling terrible because he kept looking at Lily face, which failed to mask the terror she obviously felt and the memories which were flooding back to her. She was looking terribly pale and frightened. He wanted to go over there and take her in his arms, but that was not possible. The three kidnappers stood in a circle in the middle of the room discussing their further plan of attack, until Jeff spoke out,  
  
"That was always a flaw of yours Matt." Matt swirled around and glared at him, almost daring him to continue.  
  
"You never thought things through, always start something and then work out a way to finish it later."  
  
"I guess that solves our problem." Casey spoke up, "We'll deal with you and Lily first."  
  
"But Casey, you promised I'd get to fix my problem first." Marissa whined.  
  
"Tension in the ranks," Shane muttered under his breathe to Adam who giggled softly.  
  
"Fine then, I'm sure it will pain Lily more to see what exactly is going to be done to her." Casey said grinning maniacally at Lily. This was too much for her and she promptly fainted. Allie and Mandy both gasped and tried to help her when Matt yelled at them to get away from her. They ignored him until he ran over to Allie and pressed the gun to her temple. She breathed in sharply and began to shake. Matt led her over to the centre of the room and told her to kneel down. She did so and had tears running down her cheeks. All of them were wondering where the police were. Marissa walked and stood in front of her. She stared at her for awhile before grabbing her hair and pulling it really hard, so hard that she pulled out a chunk of it. Allie screeched as she saw, and felt, her long brown hair being yanked from its roots. She went to stand up when Marissa pulled out her gun and pointed it at her,  
  
"I have no qualms about using this." Allie closed her eyes and tried to calm herself, but to no avail, she was about to die and she seriously didn't want to. Shane was looking wildly upset, he wanted to kill Marissa for what she was doing Allie. He was wondering, amongst many other thoughts running through his head, why he had ever married Marissa in the first place, though she had been different then, not tainted and evil like she was now.  
  
"It'd take so long to yank it all out, as much as I would like too." Marissa then produced a pair of scissors and began to cut out sections of her hair, being so ruthless that Allie got many cuts on her head in the process. Marissa then began to punch and slap her face. Shane was standing watching with Matt holding a gun to his head in case he moved to help her. He whispered in Shane's ear,  
  
"She's great in bed." Shane looked at him in shock, "she gets around doesn't she?" Shane stared at Allie in shock and Allie shook her head and started to say no when Marissa slapped her and told her not to lie,  
  
"You told me all about it when you pretended to me my friend." Allie just continued to shake her head. Shane looked away, with tears in his eyes.  
  
"You should have gotten a paternity test for the father of her baby." Casey said in a matter of fact tone.  
  
"It's not true," gasped Allie from between tears. Shane was no longer looking at her face. Casey then produced a knife from her pocket and handed it to Marissa. Allie looked at it and began to whimper.  
  
"Did she whimper like that for you Matt?" asked Marissa. Matt nodded and Allie shook her head wildly. Marissa grabbed the knife and held it to Allie's neck and growled,  
  
"Bet you didn't expect this when you stole him from me. You deserve everything I am going to do to you and more. By the end of tonight, you'll wish you'd never ever set eyes on Shane McMahon, and by the looks of it, he already wishes that about you." Allie looked at Shane who was avoiding eye contact with her. She began to murmur something inaudible to everyone else. She then fell to the ground and lay there, with her eyes shut, praying that they would leave her alone. She began to shake and curled up in a ball and hugged herself. She murmured louder,  
  
"I love you Shane." He looked down at her and saw the fear in her eyes, he knew even if she had slept with Matt he had to save her. He dove at Matt when the gun went of. Allie's eyes opened as soon as she heard the gun and she saw Shane fall to the ground beside her with blood pouring from his shoulder. She screamed loudly and crawled over to him. She ripped of part of her skirt and tied it tightly around his shoulder, to stem the flow of the blood. Everyone watched her do this and did nothing to stop her. Everyone was a bit shocked that one of the guns had been used. Allie took Shane's head in her lap and held it. She rubbed his head and whispered to him constantly,  
  
"Come on Shane, wake up. You have to wake up." She saw his eyes open and stare at her blankly for a few seconds and then close again.  
  
"Shane you have to wake up. Shane you can't leave me. Shane I love you, not now, not this way." Allie held his head tighter and tighter, her tears falling onto his face and she began to scream, loudly and unrestrained. It soon subsided and she only sobbed, he was dying before her eyes. Marissa stood there staring at what had happened and dropped her gun like it was burning hot, even though she hadn't shot anyone. She stared at Allie and Shane and the scene which presented itself before her. She turned and ran out the back door, where she came face to face with the police who cuffed her and put her in the car. Matt and Casey looked at each other, with fear in their eyes. They then heard the megaphone from outside telling them to come out now and all charges would be dropped. Neither of them knew what to do, they hadn't planned for this, Adam took the chance which had presented itself and overpowered Matt to take the still smoking gun. He looked at Casey and reasoned with her to give him her gun. She shook her head saying,  
  
"I'm going to jail now anyway; why not finish what I have begun." She looked at Jeff, standing powerfully next to Adam. She walked over to him and kissed him on the cheek. She looked at Lily and said to her,  
  
"You don't know how lucky you are." She then put the gun to her temple and pulled the trigger. Matt, who was lying on the fall, was beginning to wake up and saw Casey fall to the floor. He crawled over to her and whispered in her ear,  
  
"I realised I loved you more than Mandy." He then blacked out from the powerful punch which Adam had served him. Allie was now lying on the floor and talking into Shane's ear while her tears where falling on his injured shoulder,  
  
"You have to wake up," she repeated constantly. Mandy ran outside to get the police and the ambulance. Allie kept pushing Shane's hair out of his face and murmuring to him, she refused to be separated from him and began to scream when the medics pulled her away. She kicked and screamed as they placed her in the ambulance and watched as it pulled away from the building which held her dying Shane. Mandy and Adam ran to each other and clung tightly together, as did Lily and Jeff. The room was silent except for the paramedics working on Shane and Lily whispering to Jeff,  
  
"I do know how lucky I am."  
  
Chapter Thirty Nine  
  
Allie sat on her hospital bed hugging her knees tightly. She had barely stopped crying since the previous nights events. No one except the doctor had been allowed in to see her. She had a bandage on her head and was still covered in Shane's blood. She refused to take a shower, in fact, she refused to do anything. She didn't talk to the doctor and just sat and cried. She was wiping her eyes when Lily and Mandy came in to see how she was.  
  
"Allie?" Mandy asked softly. Allie just looked at them both blankly.  
  
"I know it's got to be hard for you, but, you might feel better if you took a shower." Lily said carefully. Allie just sniffed loudly. Mandy and Lily both looked at each other with concerned looks on their faces.  
  
"Maybe if you cleaned up they would let you go and see Shane." Mandy said to her. Allie looked up sharply and glared at her,  
  
"Why would I want to see a dead body?"  
  
"Allie, he's not dead, he's on the life support system down the hall, did they not tell you?" Allie shook her head and began to climb of her bed.  
  
"Why don't you take a shower?" Lily said again. Allie walked straight passed them and began to jog down the hall. She looked in every room until she saw him. He was lying motionless on a bed, connected to many machines. She ran into the room and stared. She walked slowly over to him, leant over and kissed his forehead.  
  
"He's lost a lot of blood." The doctor said walking up from behind her.  
  
"Can I just have a minute alone?" asked Allie quietly. The doctor nodded and left. Allie climbed onto the bed next to Shane and curled up beside him. She placed his arm around her and promptly fell asleep. She dreamt of better times, all the moments they'd had together, the things he'd done for her, the looks they had shared, the jokes, the secrets, the love. She kept remembering the first time they met, in the hallway on her third night in America.  
  
'She climbed the massive staircase and followed the hall round, just as she was turning a corner she ran smack bang into Shane McMahon. He stared at her for a second and then apologized.  
  
"Sorry" he muttered and kept walking. Allie just stood there in shock for a few seconds. She'd waited all her life to meet Shane O Mac and when she bumped into him, in his own house no less, he had just said sorry and walked off. That was not how the daydream had gone.'  
  
She remembered the fateful night when he had confessed his true feelings for her.  
  
"I'm attracted to you." He said quickly.  
  
"What?" Allie asked in disbelief.  
  
"Ever since I saw you at the party I haven't been able to stop thinking about you. You became friends with Marissa and I see you at work almost everyday and if I manage to avoid you at work you are always over here. I see your compassion in everything you do. You always help people, even if it's to your detriment, the way you bite your lip when you are nervous, that true smile that so few people see. I don't want to have these feelings for you because my marriage is in a bad enough shape as it is, but you'd know all about that. It's just I." His voice petered of and he leaned in close to her, the smell of his aftershave was intoxicating, he whispered softly, almost inaudibly,  
  
"I think I want you Allie Donohugh" He then leaned in and kissed her.  
  
She dreamt fondly of when they had finally got together.  
  
"Shane, I have something to tell you," She whispered. He looked down at her and nodded for her to continue.  
  
"When I thought you and her were, well, I got so scared. It felt all wrong. I felt sick to the stomach. I love you Shane. I want us to be together. I don't care what anyone says; I don't care how Marissa feels. I just want there to be an us." With that she fully burst into tears and buried her face in his chest. He held her tight, as though he would never let her go.  
  
"I feel the same way" he said softly into her hair. She slowly pulled away and looked up into his eyes. She saw the love he felt expressed in his eyes and knew it would be ok, she just knew. He wiped the tears from her eyes and kissed her.  
  
Soon her dreams turned to nightmares when she remembered the way she had treated him and all the horrible things she said.  
  
"Fine then Allie, if you don't want to talk then the least you can do is listen. Do you have any idea how much you've hurt me? I know the loss of the baby is difficult for you but it's difficult for me too. It was my baby as well and you're my fiancé, or so I thought. I always thought that you could talk to me about anything and everything, we were great together. Remember all the good times we had?... Allie I found your ring on the floor of my dressing room, it must have fallen of. I want you to have it back; I want us to get married, to be together." Allie looked up from her bed and stared hard at Shane, he was almost in tears.  
  
"Well maybe that's not what I want anymore" Allie said viciously in reply.  
  
"How dare you come in here and make it sound like everything is my fault. I don't care if you are upset, I don't care if you miss me and I don't care to marry you anymore, in fact Shane, I never want to see you again. I no longer love you and I don't know if I ever did." Shane stared at Allie, he was in shock, he would never believe that she could say such things to him, this was his innocent little Allie, the girl he protected from the word, not the one that made his world come crashing down.  
  
"If that's the way you feel then so be it. I'll have you transferred to a different department so you never have to see me again. In fact I'll go out of my way to make sure you never see me again, if that's what you want."  
  
"It is."  
  
"Goodbye Allie, it was fun while it lasted." His voice cracked as he said last sentence and walked out of the room. He didn't even stop to say goodbye to Lily, he just walked out of the apartment and didn't look back.  
  
Allie then began to murmur in her sleep,  
  
"No Shane, I didn't mean it, No, Don't go," She kept saying that over and over again until she was woken by a voice next to her saying softly,  
  
"Where am I going?" Allie snapped her eyes open and jumped of the bed. She stared at Shane and he opened his eyes and murmured once more,  
  
"Where am I going?" Allie began to cry tears of joy when she hugged him and said,  
  
"No where, you're not going anywhere, I knew you'd never leave me."  
  
Chapter Forty  
  
One Week Later  
  
Allie was sitting in the hospital at Shane's bed side; he was still recovering but was allowed to come home in a day or so. She was watching him sleep, which she often did these days, afraid to be separated from him. He liked opening his eyes and seeing Allie sitting there, whether she was also asleep or was reading or just sitting, it was a nice feeling. Today when he woke up she was watching him, he smiled and mouthed good morning to her. She leant over and kissed his forehead softly and he took her hand.  
  
"There's something I need to tell you." Allie looked at him openly.  
  
"I know you never slept with Matt." Allie smiled broadly and said in return,  
  
"I knew you trusted me, I would never cheat on you, never."  
  
"In that case there is something else I need to ask you."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Will you marry me? This time for no other reason than I don't think I can live without you." Before he had even finished Allie had begun to nod.  
  
"The twenty-four hours when I thought you were dead were the worst of my life. I felt so alone and scared. I never want to feel like that again."  
  
"You never will." He handed her a box, with a ring in it.  
  
"How did you get this?"  
  
"The girls picked it out for me and dropped it in yesterday." Allie put it on her finger and it fit perfectly.  
  
"I actually made something that I was going to give you tomorrow but I guess now is a more appropriate time." She grabbed her bag and pulled out a tape. She handed it to him.  
  
"What's this?" he asked.  
  
"You'll have to play it and find out."  
  
"But there's no tape player here."  
  
"You'll have to find one."  
  
"Can you go ask the nurse for me?"  
  
"I would but I have to go to a doctors appointment, he wants to check out my scars." She said motioning to the wig on her head covering up Marissa's handy work.  
  
"But." Shane began.  
  
"Sorry." She walked over to him and they kissed passionately for a few minutes until she realised exactly how late she was going to be.  
  
"You had time to do that but not to find me a tape player." Allie shrugged at him and walked out. A few minutes later the nurse walked in and handed him a walkman,  
  
"Allie asked me to find you one of these." Shane thanked her and placed the tape in the player and put the head phones on. A few seconds later he began to hear Allie's voice singing to him,  
  
'When I'm lost in the rain,  
  
in your eyes I know I'll find the light to light my way.  
  
And when I'm scared and losing ground;  
  
when my world is going crazy, you can turn it all around.  
  
And when I'm down you're there; pushing me to the top.  
  
You're always there; giving me all you've got.  
  
For a shield from the storm;  
  
for a friend; for a love  
  
to keep me safe and warm,  
  
I turn to you.  
  
For the strength to be strong;  
  
for the will to carry on;  
  
for everything you do;  
  
for everything that's true,  
  
I turn to you.'  
  
When the song had finished Shane rewound it and listened to it again, he did it several more times until he fell asleep listening to her voice telling him how much she loved him.  
  
Epilogue  
  
"Would the wedding party please join Mr Shane and Mrs Allie McMahon on the dance floor for the end of the bridal waltz?" They all stood and made their way onto the dance floor with their respective partners. Lily and Jeff were dancing check to cheek when Jeff said to her,  
  
"Maybe we should get married?" Lily looked at him in horror and then they both began to laugh.  
  
"Well maybe you could just move in with me?" Jeff asked, "I mean the apartments going to be empty now and all."  
  
"You only want me to move in so I can sell the apartment?"  
  
"No, I want you to move in because I can't get enough of you."  
  
"Okay." Lily replied.  
  
"That's all you're going to say?"  
  
"That' all that need's to be said." Lily then moved in and kissed Jeff. Adam and Mandy had watched the whole exchange and were murmuring to each other about how sweet it was.  
  
"Adam there's something I have to tell you," Mandy said.  
  
"What is it sweetie?"  
  
"You're going to be a father." Adam stopped very still and slowly a large smile spread over his face.  
  
"That is reeking of Awesomeness," was his reply as he wrapped Mandy up in a large bear hug. Allie and Shane were in their own world; they had danced for six dances straight and had no idea. Shane kept telling Allie how much he loved her and she kept reciprocating. Stephanie then walked up to Shane and asked if she could cut in and Allie nodded, saying her feet were getting sore anyway. She went and sat down at her seat and surveyed the room of people having fun. She watched Mathew and Laurie get up to dance; they'd gotten together shortly after Jericho's birthday. Jericho was looking mighty friendly with Nora as they talked cosily in a corner. Shane Filan waved to her from the other side of the room where he was talking with Stacey Kiebler, who kept teasing him about his accent. She waved back and then had a sip of the drink in front of her when she was joined by Mandy and Lily who sat down either side of her. She put an arm around both of them and said,  
  
"Well I suppose you could say we've seriously made it now!" 


End file.
